Who designed the reverse of the 1776–1976 Bicentennial half dollar?

Seth Huntington designed the reverse of the 1776–1976 Bicentennial half dollar.

Huntington’s winning design depicted Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the building where the Declaration of Independence was debated and adopted and where the United States Constitution was later drafted. The image connected the circulating coin to the nation’s founding history.

The half-dollar design was chosen through a public competition announced by the Treasury Department in 1973. Jack L. Ahr won the quarter competition with his Colonial drummer, while Dennis R. Williams won the dollar competition with a Liberty Bell and Moon design. All three winning artists received $5,000 awards.

Frank Gasparro, the Mint’s chief engraver, made minor adjustments to the winning designs before production. The special coins carried the double date 1776–1976 and were struck in both copper-nickel and silver-clad versions. The Bicentennial half dollar was a circulating coin, not merely a privately issued souvenir.