Walking Liberty Half Dollar (1916-1947)

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Walking Liberty Half Dollars (often affectionately referred to as "Walkers") are one of the most popular series of U.S. coins to collect. The beauty of the design, the fun of building a set and the fact that many dates are affordable even in high grades are some of the reasons for their popularity.

Walkers are large silver coins and have a great deal of appeal for their aesthetics, the intrinsic value of the metal and the fact that they maintain much of their beauty even in well circulated grades.

There are many ways to collect Walking Liberty Half Dollars. Many people may only acquire one example for a type set, and will usually choose a common date in mint state condition. Others may add Walkers to their collection from time to time, choosing to purchase gem quality examples, coins with toning that they find attractive, or just when they find "Walkers" for sale at a good price.

One popular collecting strategy is to assemble a short set. There are several ways to do this, the most popular being to collect the business strike coins starting from 1940 or 1941, going through the end of the series in 1947, and including the coins from each of the mints. This is a set that even collectors on a tight budget can probably afford to put together in mint state because all 22 business strike issues from the 1940's are common dates. A more challenging, yet still very popular way to collect Walking Liberty Half Dollars is to put together a set of all business strike issues in the entire series from 1916-1947. This set includes 65 coins. Many of them, particularly the earlier dates, will be very costly in high grades, and the average collector will usually opt to purchase these dates in well circulated condition. Specifically, the 1916-S, 1921, 1921-D and 1938-D will be somewhat expensive even in a grade of G4. Some collectors may choose to add the proofs to their sets or to collect only the proof issues, of which there are only seven.

I personally collect Walking Liberty Half Dollars because, like many collectors of U.S. coins, I consider it to be one of the most beautiful coin designs ever. Although "Walkers" are great looking coins in any grade, it is nice that there are stunning mint state examples available to collectors on almost any budget.

When I'm looking to purchase Walking Liberty Half Dollars, knowing which dates in the series are strongly or weakly struck can be valuable information. There are many dates in the series known for a weak strike. Those dated coins can display some lack of detail, especially in the center of the design, and even on mint state coins. Most dates can be found fully struck and with full or nearly full detail, although that will often require some patience and time to look at a large number of coins.

Walking Liberty Half Dollars are a lot of fun to collect. And whether you acquire one coin or multiple complete sets, I think they are coins that you will be pleased to include in your collection.

History

More information on the Walking Liberty Half Dollar coming soon

Check out these other resources for more info.

Contact me if you have a link to a site with additional information on this coin.

Specs

Sculptor Obverse: Adolph A Weinman	Sculptor Reverse: Adolph A Weinman
Weight: 12.5 g	Diameter: 30.6 mm
Thickness:	Composition: 90% Silver, 10% Copper

Mints

"Walkers" were produced in Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco. Coins from Philadelphia have no mint marks, coins from Denver have a "D" mint mark, and coins from San Francisco have an "S" mint mark. The mint marks are located in the lower left area of the reverse of the coin.

What's it worth?

So what's my coin worth?

Here are a few of my favorite free guides for estimating the value of your coin.

Click Here - Numismedia Fair Market Value pages. This is the guide for all NGC graded coins.
Click Here - PCGS Price Guide. This guide is the guide for PCGS graded coins

Click the sliders below for more information on how to estimate the value of your coins.

Determine what you have

Coin type(Half Dollar), Coin Set(Walking Liberty), Year(1943), Mintmark(D)
If you don't know what coin you have, try using the coin catalog to find a picture.
If you are on the page of the coin that you are interested in, go to the next step and grade your coin. If not, find your coin and use that grade guide
Keep in mind any errors or varieties for your coin when looking for the value. You never know, you might have a rare find.

Determine the Grade of your coin

The grade of your coin is probably the most important aspect in valuating your coin. It can also be the most subjective.

We are still researching guidelines for grading this coin. If you would like to submit your guidelines for grading this coin, please contact me.

In the mean time Click Here for general grading guidelines.

What Value do you want?

Now that you understand what coin you have, and an approximate grade for the coin, ask yourself why you want the value.

I want to sell it - If you want to sell your coin, understand that dealers won't likely give you full red book or full graded price for the coin. They need to make a profit too. EBay is always a good option, but you may not get as much as the power sellers with thousands of positive reviews. Be realistic about how much you will get for selling the coin, and use the price guides as good references.
I want to buy it - Arm yourself with as much information as you can. Just like above, the dealers aren't going to pay full red book for the coin, so there may just be some wiggle room. The key is to know what you want, and understand roughly how much it should go for. If you find a coin that you just have to have, this may help you from paying too much for it.
Insurance - If you are looking at the value of the coin for insurance, you may want to use these guide values or get a professional appraisal from a dealer. It's important to note that you need to insure for what it will cost to replace the coin. That is likely closer to Red Book, Numismedia, or PCGS price guides.

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