Commemorative Half Dollars

Commemorative coins are issued by an act of Congress and are specifically intended to be collector's items, although it cannot be said that none have ever been used in circulation for general commerce. (It is obvious that the Adams half above shows considerable wear and this is likely due to circulation handling over time.) Until the 20th century, only three had been struck in the United States (the second one above is one of those three, issued in 1893) but in recent times, the number has increased dramatically. One reason is simple: they are always sold at a price that exceeds their intrinsic value and this is a profit that the government finds impossible to ignore. In fairness to the discussion, it is true that some commemoratives have seen remarkable appreciation over the years. The U.S. Types book that I have contains these 4 commemorative half dollars and one commemorative dollar coin. I bought these four some years ago and they cost $8, $12, $5 and (unknown), while being worth about $25, $25, $10, and $20 today.