There seems to be a massive amount of confusion in this thread. 1964 and earlier halves are 90% silver. 1965-1970 halves are 40% silver. 1976 s mint halves can be 40% silver or clad. In addition, starting in the early 90's, 92 or 93, can't remember exactly, 90% s mint proof coins were made. The modern 90% silver halves have a nice white edge like the pre 65. They are very rare in circulation. The 1976 s mint, 40% silver halves are also very rarely found in circulation. Any 40% half is going to be silver clad, meaning a copper core, with a small percentage of silver alloyed with the copper, surrounded by silver, with a small percentage of copper alloyed in. Most 40% coins are easily identified by a mostly white edge with a less pronounced copper(mostly copper) core visible. However, some 40% coins have an appearance very similar to regular clad. They can be identified by year, weight and sound test. HH
