During the 80's a company in Connecticut was gold plating JFK halves. Someone must have given it to your Mom, or she ordered it herself. It is a collector's item only! The actual value of the gold is minimal. Maybe you could sell it on E-Bay for $10 or so if you are lucky. Signed, NY coin dealer
It's probably just gold plated, which the gold plating was done after the coin was made, so it's just novelty item that's just fun to have, so to answer your question, your mom probably paid more for the coin than the gold plating is worth as that is how most novelty items are, you pay a lot more for them than you would get for them if you tried to resell them at a later date. If you want to invest in gold, I'd suggest buying American eagle gold coins or pre-33 US gold collectible coins, not novelty items that are gold plated to make them look like they're made of gold. If that's out of your reach, than silver will serve you better, again, Silver Eagles or pre-64 silver coinage will do just fine, not silver jewelry which is considered to be a novelty item, not an investment
I have 3 of these coins, all from 1980. They are in the original packaging and numbered from the columbia mint. It says on the back that they were made for his 20th anniversary for being elected. It says on the front that they are covered in pure 24KT gold. The 1960 and 1980 dates on the coin do look like they were added after the original minting but this had to be done at the columbia mint because the 3 I own have never been opened. Please let me know if they are worth anything because I can't find there anywhere including ebay.
