The Renaissance of United States Coinage

Indians Come, Indians Go: Part 7

The Walking Liberty Half Dollar, 1916-47

by Tolling Jennings .

 

I can remember as a small boy, watching my older brother go through rolls of half dollars looking for those elusive 1920-era "Walkers" that might be found in among the shiny new "Franklin" halves. The " Franklins " were all brilliant and mostly new, I was 8 years old and it was 1955. Whenever a late date " Walker " would show up, I would experience a little rush and ask if I could hold it for a while. If he was not in too big a hurry to get the rolls back to the bank to exchange for other rolls to search through, he would let me examine and marvel at these beautiful large silver coins with the young, slim, energetic lady striding toward a new day with arms full of boughs. It was years before I realized that Miss Liberty was draped in the 48-star American Flag carrying both laurel and oak boughs.

 

I was a bit vague on what this " LIBERTY " stuff was and I asked my brother what it meant. He replied that it was like Saturday morning after you had finished your chores, cartoons were over and you could do anything you wanted to do. I liked that feeling when I was young and still do to this day. I vote "yes" for Liberty .

 

Full of the amazing glory of the obverse, I would turn over the coin and fill with wonder at how such an eagle could be captured in metal. Bold, self-assured, focused, launching into the sky awaiting a dive into the blue, where was such a bird going? It never occurred to me that it might be the fields of Flanders .

1921-D "Walking Liberty " Half Dollar. (Key date/mint)

 

When Adolph A. Weinman was busy designing the "Mercury" dime and the "Walking Liberty" half dollar, the United States was still sitting on the fence in terms of which side to enter in the First World War. After all, the U.S. had been at war with Great Britain more than any other country in its history. There were lots of citizens in the U.S. with German ancestry and a large industrial and financial connection between the U.S. and Germany .

The side might not have been clear but it was obvious that the U.S. would enter the war. The boughs Miss Liberty is holding are a combination of Laurel and Oak. Laurel is an offering of peace in the heraldic tradition and Oak is a representation of strength and war - a bit of a mixed message that implied there was still a chance to avoid war and perhaps pursue a path of peace.

When President Theodore Roosevelt gathered artists to redesign the U.S. coinage, he used the work of French engraver Louis Roty as an example of what he had in mind. The " Walker " has perhaps the closest resemblance to Roty's classic "The Sower" design used on French coins.

 

FRANCE . "The Sower" design by Louis Roty. Used on the obverses of French silver 50-centimes, 1- and 2-franc coins 1897/8 to 1920. (Design shown enlarged)

 

These beautiful coins encountered the same difficulties that the rest of the new designs experienced. The design was not suitable for mass production due to there being too high a relief on the obverse and reverse directly opposite each other. The eagle's breast and Miss Liberty's hand directly opposite were high points on both sides and could not be filled with metal on high-speed presses. "Fully struck Liberty " is almost an oxymoron. The best examples of this coin were struck in 1916 and 1917 from the Philadelphia Mint. The mint mark was originally placed on the obverse in 1916 and part of 1917; it was then moved to the reverse for the rest of the issue. All of the branch mint coins are weakly struck. The question is not what branch mint had the best strike; rather what mint had the least weak strike! The original design and engraving were modified in 1921 and the coins from 1923 to 1947 display stronger detail in the skirt lines and the stars of the flag. The relief was lowered slightly so some coins of 1923, 1927 and 1928 have beautiful strikes. Unfortunately, these coins were real work horses of the circulation coinage and were minted in low numbers. From 1919 to 1934 there are only four years when mintages exceeded two million. No coins were minted in 1922, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1930, 1931 or 1932. This meant that the relatively few coins that were minted in the intervening years saw heavy circulation. All of the early "Walkers" are scarce in Mint State . You can expect to spend well over $100 for a "common" MS60 early " Walker ". A pristine MS64 and above will cost in the thousands if not tens of thousands of those itty bitty U.S. dollars. The 1921-D at 208,000 is the lowest mintage of the bunch and will set you back at least $250 in the grade of "Good". The prize for the most valuable condition rarity goes to the 1921-S which can reach the high five-figure range in fully-struck, high-end mint state.

 

From 1934 on they really cranked up the presses. As many as 47-million coins were struck at one mint, and all mints struck over 2-million with only two exceptions. The 1938-D with a mintage of 491,600 is the third lowest mintage of the series and the 1937-D at 1,676,000 are the only two late-date "Walkers" under two million. I used to deal with Sam of "Trader Sam's Coins" in San Francisco , who actually drove from San Francisco to Denver in 1938 to buy a few rolls of 38-D "Walkers". The word was out about the low mintage and he was not alone as many other dealers and collectors stocked up on 38-Ds. Up until the late 1980s, these low-mintage "Walkers" were readily available and could be had for less than $100 in mint state. Sam said that he had sold most of his for $5 to $10. All this changed in the mid-1990s when the supply ran out and prices began to rise. In today's bull market an MS63 38-D will set you back $750. I wonder if Sam hid a roll in a "safe place?"

 

The last Liberty Walking Half Dollar was struck at the Denver Mint in the year I was born - 1947. This marked the end of the "Renaissance of United States Coinage". The Lincoln Cent, considered the start of the "Dead Presidents" series, continues as the last of the series to be minted to this day. After many redesigns and devaluations, the U.S. may choose to retire the Lincoln cent after the 100th anniversary of its first strike. Rather an ignoble end to the most beautiful series of coins produced in the Twentieth Century - or perhaps any other.

References for the seven-part series:

"Collectible American Coins"

Kenneth E. Bressett and the A.N.A.,

1991 Publications International Ltd.

"A Guide Book of UNITED STATES COINS"

R.S. Yeoman, 54th edition, St. Martin 's Press

"COINage Magazine"

Various issues, Miller Magazines Inc.

"Standing Liberty Quarters"

J.H. Cline, Third edition 1997

Wayne Jacobs is numismatic expert. He is the award winning author of numerous articles. He is the secretary and editor of the "Mid-Island Coin Club Numismatic Journal"of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island , British Columbia. The MICC journal are hosted here: MICC webpages Copyright 2006 Wayne Jacobs. This article may be reprinted freely for non commercial purpose only if the resource box is left intact, linking back to us.