how much is a silver half dollar worth today

[StAthena]

Ah, the humble half dollar! Before you go emptying your piggy bank or your grandpa's old coin jar, you should know that not all fifty-cent pieces are created equal. The answer to your question is a classic "it depends," specifically on the year stamped on that coin. It's all about how much of the good stuff—silver—is hiding in there.

If you're holding a half dollar dated 1964 or earlier (like a Walking Liberty, a Franklin, or a 1964 Kennedy), you've got the jackpot, relatively speaking. These coins are 90% silver, and based on current melt values, they're worth around $9.11. That's a much nicer ring to it than fifty cents, isn't it?

Then came the great silver pullback. If your Kennedy half dollar is dated between 1965 and 1970, its silver content took a nosedive to just 40%. It's still worth more than its face value, clocking in at a melt value of about $3.78. Not too shabby, but not quite the silver powerhouse of its older siblings.

Any half dollar you find from 1971 to today is just a copper-nickel pretender with no silver content at all, so it's worth... well, fifty cents. Of course, keep in mind these are just melt values—the "let's melt it down for its shiny bits" price. If you have a particularly rare or stunningly well-preserved coin, a collector might pay a whole lot more. So, check those dates before you buy a gumball