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The Franklin Half Dollar was designed by John R.Sinnock. It has a picture of Founding Father Benjamin Franklin on the obverse and the Liberty Bell on the reverse. A small eagle was placed to the right of the bell to fulfill the legal requirement that half dollars depict the figure of an eagle. It contains 90% silver.

There are only 35 different dates and mintmarks in the series, making it a relatively inexpensive collecting project. A widely known variety is the 1955"Bugs Bunny" half. This variety was caused by a die clash between an obverse die and a reverse die. The impact of the eagle's wings on the other die caused a marking outside of Franklin's mouth which, according to some, resembles buck teeth.

To improve the quality of the pieces, the Mint made slight modifications to the designs, though both the old (Type I) and new (Type II) were struck in 1958 and1959. One obvious difference between the types is the number of long tail feathers on the eagle—Type I half-dollars have four tail feathers, and Type II only three.

An especially well-struck Franklin half-dollar is said to have full bell lines. To qualify, the seven parallel lines making up the bottom of the bell must be fully visible, and the three wisps of hair to the right of Franklin'sear on the obverse must also fully show, and not blend together.