Collecting Key And Semi-Key Walking Liberty Half Dollars

Walking Liberty half dollars have long been considered among the world’s most beautiful coins.

A popular silver coin produced by the U.S. Mint from 1916 through 1947, the Walking Liberty half dollar is a coin that many collectors like to collect by date and mintmark.

A complete set of Walking Liberty half dollars means collecting every date and mintmark combination produced during the 31 years that the coin was in production.

Types Of Walking Liberty Half Dollars

Assembling a complete set of Walking Liberty half dollars can be a bit difficult even though most Walking Liberty half dollars are considered common.

Many can be purchased for a nominal price over bullion value if in well-worn grades. However, some are very expensive. The expensive Walking Liberty half dollars are the scarce dates that many collectors want but few can have because there simply are not enough of those coins available for all collectors.

The most expensive coins in a series (the entire run of dates for a certain design) are usually dubbed key coins. These key coins are the especially tough ones to locate (and afford).

Semi-key coins are the less expensive, less-scarce coins in a series. While not nearly as rare as the key coins, they still are considered scarce and also are among the pricier coins in the series.

As times change, Walking Liberty half dollar values increase (or decrease) and certain dates become harder to find, the definitions key and semi-key sometimes are ascribed or removed from certain coins.

NOTE: Some coins are considered common in lower grades while they would be considered a key or semi-key in a higher grade. This is simply because they are very scarce, even rare, in those higher grades. For the sake of this article, we will list the key and semi-key coins based on overall mintages for most grades.

Key And Semi-Key Walking Liberty Half Dollars

What are the key and semi-key coins in the Walking Liberty half dollar series?

Following is a list of the scarcest Walking Liberty half dollars and their value ranges. The low side is for a grade of Good and higher value is for a grade of Mint-State 66.

• 1916: 608,000 minted ($50 to $4,000) Semi-key
• 1916-D: 1,014,400 minted ($50 to $5,000) Semi-key
• 1916-S: 508,000 minted ($100 to $20,000) Semi-key
• 1917-D (Mintmark on obverse): 765,400 minted ($30 to $30,000) Semi-key
• 1917-S (Mintmark on obverse): 952,000 minted ($30 to $50,000) Semi-key
• 1919: 962,000 minted ($32 to $15,000) Semi-key
• 1919-D: 1,165,000 minted ($32 to $500,000) Semi-key
• 1919-S: 1,552,000 minted ($20 to $35,000) Semi-key
• 1921: 246,000 minted ($150 to $40,000) Key
• 1921-D: 208,000 minted ($225 to $50,000) Key
• 1921-S: 548,000 minted ($75 to $325,000) Semi-key
• 1938-D: 491,600 minted ($50 to $10,00) Key

Any other date and mintmark combination of Walking Liberty half dollar is generally considered common and in circulated and most uncirculated grades proportionately worth much less than the prices listed here.

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