Walking Liberty Half Dollar

All the coins produced before the turn of the century were exquisite in there own right. One collector may say that he prefers the Barber Half Dollar while the other says she prefers the Seated Liberty Half Dollar. The argument essentially comes down to who finds what the most beautiful or worthy of collection. Though this list could go on for days, most numastists would agree that the Standing or Walking Liberty Half Dollar took coins to a whole new artistic level. Never before has such elegance and foresight been put into a coin. The coin has made its own dent in the ripples of history.

The Walking Liberty Half Dollar was stamped and struck for almost fifty years. There’s not too many coins that have had that long of a lifespan. As you may or may not know, Theodore Roosevelt preempted the change from old model to a new design in coins. In 1915, the US Mint Director at the time, Robert W. Woolley, asked three renown artists for their attempt at designing coins and reshaping the coin’s historical convection—a tradition started even before Barber’s coins hit the pockets of the rich and poor.

The three artists or sculptors for the Walking Liberty Half Dollar were Herman MacNeil, Adolph Weinman and Albin Polasek. Though Charles Barber should have been left to the task, he didn’t put too much of a fuss at having outside artisans try their crafty hands. Barber died two years later in 1917 pushing 80 years old and was replaced by the designer of the Morgan Silver Dollar, Geroge Morgan.

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As history has its twists of fate, the three artisans should have had an equal shot at glory, as they were commissioned to design three coins total—one coin to each sculptor. Woolley, considered a fair man, probably had these initial intentions. The designs of Weinman, however, stole the show and he was awarded two coins. He designed the Mercury Dime and the famous Walking Liberty Half Dollar. MacNeil went on to design the quarter while Polasek got nothing.

Weinman was a well-trained student of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and his images of Lady Liberty illustrate this. Under the eagle on the back, one can see the initials AW proudly inscribed. It’s ironic that a boy who came from Germany in 1880 would design such a patriotic coin on the brinks of America and the World going into war (WWI). With such bold displays of metaphoric America, no one questioned which side Weinman was on—he was now an American!

Barbers says that the Walking Liberty Half Dollar shows Liberty walking onwards to the dawn of a new day. She is striking with her hand outstretched, welcoming. The symbolic eagle on the back represents power and fearlessness. The Franklin Half Dollar replaced the Walking Liberty Half Dollar and design in 1948. There were nearly 500 million of these coins produced. The mint condition coins still fetch upwards of thousands of dollars today. The rarest of the Walker Coins as they are sometimes called are the 1921 Denver and Philadelphia versions. There was only a little more than 200,000 struck of each. Other Walking Liberty Half Dollars can sell for thousands of dollars, especially if they have errors, which make them unique indeed.

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