The other day I stopped into the coin shop, and what did I find in the world coin section? This guy
It's pretty worn, but that's still 90% junk silver there. He charged me ¥2000 (≈$14) which I didn't think was too bad.
For those unfamiliar, the Walking Liberty design was used on half-dollars from 1916 to 1947. It replaced the Barber half-dollar, and was replaced itself by the Franklin half-dollar in 1948.
It was deigned by Adolph A. Weinman and is usually considered to be one of the most beautiful coin designs in US history. Due to that, it was chosen for the American Silver Eagles when those started up in 1986 where it was only slightly modified to make it look better on the larger coin.
Some basic coin stats for you:
and most importantly, it's 90% silver, so that means about 11.3 grams of silver, which as of today has a melt value of roughly $11.54. Woohoo silver!
Well, again, this is pretty worn. Here is what a better copy looks like (from Wikipedia):
And here she is with her older sister:
The reverse is just an eagle, as we might expect from a US coin. A fairly nice image, but then again, it's tough to do an eagle badly.
For a coin design that has in the years since been considered one of the most beautiful designs ever, it seems like it didn't get a lot of acclaim at the time. Although some people did like it, many others disliked it. Wikipedia quotes an Alabama paper that seemed to downright hate it.
But I suppose that is always how it is. People hate change and usually dislike anything new; it is only later generations that look back and recognize when one of those changes was truly great.
Anyway, overall a nice coin. Not one I'd really seek out more of, but cool to have at least one for historic value.
| David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon. |
