1962

Philadelphia struck 12,932,019 half dollars in 1962, a production figure that placed the issue comfortably in the middle tier of mintages for the later Franklin years. The pace of work at the Mint had quickened by this point, and contemporary die usage patterns suggest that individual die pairs were pushed harder than during earlier years of the series. The result is a date where strike quality varies more widely than the relatively uniform output of 1960 or 1961, with some specimens showing crisp definition and others displaying notable softness in the bell lines and eagle feathers.

Heavy production runs in 1962 also produced a population of coins with significant bag-mark accumulation. Canvas Mint bags holding 1,000 pieces traveled by rail and truck, and the contact wear from this transit shows clearly on the open obverse field surrounding Franklin's portrait. PCGS and NGC certified populations reflect this: standard MS-64 and MS-65 grades are plentiful, but truly clean cheek examples at MS-66 FBL or finer are notably scarcer. Authentication should focus on die-marker consistency and on the texture of the field, since the heavy production runs of this year produced enough genuine variation in surface appearance that altered pieces can sometimes pass casual inspection.

The 1962 rewards collectors who shop carefully and who are willing to reject candidates that show even moderate bag-mark distribution. Long-term Franklin Half Dollar collecting interest concentrates on the matched FBL run, the 1948 and 1953-S strike-quality benchmarks, the 1955 Bugs Bunny variety, and the post-Kennedy 1963 final-year context that together define the modern Franklin set-building landscape. Auction-house specialist sales at Heritage, Stack's Bowers, and Legend Rare Coin Auctions continue to refine the modern certified-population profile, and Cameo and Deep Cameo (where applicable) tier pricing tracks closely with these documented sale records across the entire series. For the wider story of how the series progressed through its final years, see the Franklin Half Dollar series history.