1939-S Walking Liberty Half Dollar : A Collector’s Guide

By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek Notes …..
 

After not producing half {dollars} in 1938, the San Francisco Mint struck 2,552,000 examples of the denomination in 1939. This made the 1939-S Strolling Liberty Half Greenback mintage 1.72 million cash fewer than what Denver produced that 12 months and 4.26 million fewer than what was made by the mom mint at Philadelphia.

Whereas the coin-collecting inhabitants was smaller in 1938 than it will be within the passion’s mid-century heyday, the commemorative coin craze of the mid-’30s generated vital pleasure for contemporary coin points. Collectors and speculators of the interval tucked away massive portions of cash–particularly points with low reported mintages–as a result of they didn’t need to miss out on the subsequent 1916-D Mercury Dime or 1909-S V.D.B. Lincoln Cent). Due to this fact, roll portions of 1939-S Strolling Liberty Half {Dollars} have been available till the latter half of the twentieth century.

From a putting perspective, the 1939-S Strolling Liberty Half Greenback is typical for the interval. Full strikes are scarce as Liberty’s all the time problematic hand and left leg normally lack full definition.

But regardless of its comparatively low mintage and putting difficulties, the 1939-S Strolling Liberty Half Greenback was saved in enough portions that Alternative, Gem, and even Excellent Gem examples will be had with little problem. Value guides revealed on-line and in print think about the 1939-S barely higher than a kind coin however not scarce sufficient to be a semi-key or higher date.

As of November 2024, the going charge for a 1939-S Strolling Liberty Half Greenback in MS65 is about $275. Nevertheless, examples in MS67+ have bought lately for $4,500 and extra, and public sale outcomes for top-pop MS68 cash exceed $10,000.

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1939-S Strolling Liberty Half Greenback Market Information and Noteworthy Specimens

Coin vendor Joel D. Coen of New York supplied Alternative BU examples of the 1939-S Strolling Liberty for $100 in an advert revealed within the April 1976 difficulty of The Numismatist.

The Excellent Gem inhabitants of this date has exploded up to now 10 years. By way of November 2013, PCGS had reported 130 grading occasions in MS67 with 4 finer. When Stack’s Bowers supplied the George Gardner Assortment of Strolling Liberty Halves in November 2013, PCGS reported simply 4 examples at MS67+ with none finer. By April 2022, that quantity had grown to 30 with one instance at MS68. On the time of this replace, PCGS stories 274 in MS67, 34 in MS67+, and one at MS68.

In November 2013, the NGC high inhabitants grade was MS67 with 114 grading occasions. In June 2023, NGC reported three cash at MS68, 18 at MS67+, and 194 on the earlier top-pop MS67 grade.

Prime Inhabitants: PCGS MS68 (1, 11/2024), NGC MS68 (3, 11/2024), and CAC AU58 (216:6 stickered:graded, 11/2024).

• NGC MS68 #4913327-002: Heritage Auctions, January 21, 2021, Lot 3662 – $10,800.
• NGC MS68 #4882267-003: Heritage Auctions, September 5, 2019, Lot 3746 – $13,800. Good.
• NGC MS68 #3812122-002: Heritage Auctions, September 17, 2015, Lot 3974 – $12,925. Pale gold firming.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #44648403: “The Rolla Fox #1 PCGS/CAC Registry Set of Strolling Liberty Half {Dollars}”, GreatCollections, Could 22, 2022, Lot 1153880 – View. Fox on insert.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #80566329: “The JBN Set”, Legend Uncommon Coin Auctions, April 27, 2023, Lot 297 – $6,756.25. Ray Cassano Assortment on insert. Good.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #39237866: Heritage Auctions, April 23, 2020, Lot 3594 – $3,894; Heritage Auctions, January 11, 2023, Lot 3265 – $4,560.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #45901463: Legend Uncommon Coin Auctions, October 20, 2022, Lot 97 – $3,877.50. Good with vivid purple and gold firming across the periphery. 
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #25326322: Heritage Auctions, April 23, 2014, Lot 3608 – $4,114.85; Legend Uncommon Coin Auctions, April 21, 2021, Lot 176 – $4,582.50; Legend Uncommon Coin Auctions, April 28, 2022, Lot 162 – $3,877.50. Good.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #38519660: Heritage Auctions, July 21, 2020, Lot 27263 – $3,480.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #36088629: Legend Uncommon Coin Auctions, July 16, 2020, Lot 328 – $3,760. Good.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #50077636: Heritage Auctions, June 5, 2020, Lot 3536 – $4,320.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #36455215: Heritage Auctions, December 6, 2019, Lot 3917 – $4,560. Good.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #82689465: Heritage Auctions, February 17, 2017, Lot 4425 – $4,700; Heritage Auctions, February 21, 2020, Lot 3750 – $4,800.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #37717353: Legend Uncommon Coin Auctions, Could 16, 2019, Lot 454 – $4,582.50.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #36329737: Heritage Auctions, March 15, 2019, Lot 3864 – $6,000.
• NGC MS67+CAC #3735482-008: Legend Uncommon Coin Auctions, September 27, 2018, Lot 153 – $2,937.50.
• NGC MS67+ CAC #3898419-003: Stack’s Bowers, August 2015, Lot 491 – $3,172.50. Scattered darkish firming spots over a largely good coin. Flat hand and arm.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #25265998: Heritage Auctions, October 9, 2014, Lot 4797 – $4,112.50.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #28147697: Heritage Auctions, November 1, 2013, Lot 3645 – $4,993.75.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #25010786: Heritage Auctions, September 27, 2013, Lot 6484 – $5,581.25. Good.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #26763285: Heritage Auctions, April 25, 2013, Lot 2748 – $6,462.50.
• PCGS MS67+ #06638235: Heritage Auctions, January 7, 2011, Lot 5805 – $4,600. Splotches of vivid gold and orange firming on the obverse. Peripheral gold, purple, and black rim firming on the reverse.

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Design

Obverse:

Utterly dominating the obverse face of the Strolling Liberty Half Greenback is the eponymous strolling Woman Liberty. She is seen as a full-body determine, wearing a flowing robe, and draped with a big billowing American flag. She holds laurel and oak branches in her left hand that symbolize the civil and army glories of America, respectively. As Liberty strides confidently in direction of the rising solar, she reaches out a welcoming and open hand. She is superimposed over the obverse legend LIBERTY ringing the obverse, obscuring half of the “BE” and nearly your complete “R”. Above Liberty’s rear foot is the motto IN GOD WE TRUST and beneath her is the date 1939.

Reverse:

Perched on a rocky outcropping, a defiant eagle stares off into the space, its wings partially unfolded. A mountain pine sapling grows from the rock subsequent to the eagle. Above the fowl’s wings is the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; to the left is the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM. Beneath the eagle’s talons is the denomination HALF DOLLAR. The designer’s initials type the monogram AW seem beneath the eagle’s proper wing. To the left of the rocky outcropping, at 7:30 on the clock, is the S mintmark.

Edge:

The sting of the 1939-S Strolling Liberty Half Greenback is reeded.

Designer

Adolph Alexander Weinman was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States as a teen. He studied and labored underneath such well-known American sculptors as Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Daniel Chester French. Weinman is accountable for two of probably the most iconic coin designs in U.S. historical past: the Mercury (Winged Liberty) Dime and the Strolling Liberty Half Greenback, each of which debuted in 1916. Weinman’s sons additionally turned sculptors and coin designers, and he taught such pupils as sculptor Anthony de Francisci of Peace Greenback fame. Adolph Weinman died in 1952.

1939-S Strolling Liberty Half Greenback Coin Specs

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