Walking Liberty Half Dollars...short set.

I just started my "short set" of Walking Liberty Half Dollars. (1941-47 PDS). There is a huge price jump between MS 64 and MS 65.

I've read two books on these beautiful coins. I've decided to go the "cheaper" route and buy all the coins in MS 64. (PCGS/NGC slabbed).

I'm doing this because I love the design. (and because I can't afford the "long set"!)

However, like most people, I view my collecting as a possible investment. From what I've seen with the common date Walkers the real "money makers" are the super high grades in common dates MS 67 +, or MS coins from the lower mintages.

Do you think that there is a big difference in investment potential between MS 64 and MS 65 Walkers in the short set years?

From looking at about 50 or so at the last show I attended, the only real difference I can see is strike. On the MS 64's the thumb is soft. On the MS 65's its usually very well defined. Other than that, a blast white 64 looks the same as most 65's....sometimes better if the 65 has unattractive toning.

Thanks!

 

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The Walking Liberty is a grand design. There is no doubt about that. Collecting the Walking Liberty Half Dollar is a great pursuit.

Doing a 41 to 47 short set in MS 64 and you’re going to have a very nice collection. The “I word” though. Personally, I wouldn’t stamp the investment word on those coins. There are a lot of those coins in those years in UNC running around and plenty of them slabbed already by PCGS and NGC.

When you’re looking for “investment coins”, look at key coins. You want low mintage and high grade in them. The late liberties don’t feature any keys nor are they low mintage in MS grades.

Again though, if you want to collect MS 64 Walkers, by all means, do it. Though, my thoughts, do it as collection pieces not as investment pieces. They may appreciate don’t bank the farm on it. But if you appreciate them, then enjoy building such a set.

 

The way I've always been told to look at collectibles is this: if you're looking to invest, pick something else.

That said, I Love walkers, and that would be a very pretty set when it's completed. You never know, 30 years from Now they may have beaten inflation and indeed appreciated. They may not have. But if you enjoy collecting and enjoy having them, then you're already ahead IMO.

 

Thanks Ex and T-Bone. I have a tendency to take the fun out of collecting by worrying about "investment potential".

Now I'm excited about putting my set of 64's together! If I can sell them for what I paid for them in 30 years I'd be happy. There I go again............

 

That's a great short set to collect. I think the walking liberty half dollar is one of the most beautiful US coins ever minted. I always wanted to collect a set. Much like yourself, the whole series in mint state was out of my budget.

So I decided to do the whole collection in different grades ascending by grade chronologically from Good through MS 65, so that it would be affordable. The way the Walking Liberty Half DANSCO album divides the dates on different pages is perfect for this.

I filled the DANSCO album by grade in ascending order. Page 1 coins from the 1916 to the 1921S are in G-VG-F, with the first 4 being in Good, the second eight coins in VG and the last 8 in Fine. Page 2, from the 23 s to the 38 D are in VF-XF. Page 3, from the 39 to the 45 S are AU-MS63. The last page, only 5 coins from 46 to 47 D, are MS 64/65 coins.
It may be a little unorthodox and kooky, but I had fun doing the set that way and it didn't break my bank account. :smile

The main difference betw the 64s and 65s as far as I can tell is sharpness of strike, and some of the 65s have luster that just jumps out at you.

 

Race,

That is an awesome way to collect Walkers. Thanks!

 

I think you'll find most people don't view their collecting as possible investments.

I'm not sure the short set in that particular series will ever be considered investment material because of the huge numbers made and the availability of high grades for relatively little money, you might be ok if you went with the highest grades you could find. There is always the chance of reselling for a tidy profit to registry builders, but you need those higher grades to do so.

Thats a really great short set to put together, and even if you never make an investment gain on it, it will be well worth the effort and fun.
Guy

 

You might enjoy this link.
http://www.pcgs.com/photograde/#/Walker/Grades

 

If you are very patient, you can assemble a set of MS64 graded coins that will have the quality equal to an MS65 set. The graders aren't perfect and sometimes they are off a point or two. So if you look at lots of MS64 examples you will note that some are really great looking MS65 coins while others are ugly MS63 examples. Be patient, look at lots of coins and you'll get that "MS65" set for the cost of an MS64 set

Here's the set I used to own (and sold to a fellow forum member). This set was great and contained many "MS65" worthy coins. And the cases were pretty darn sweet too:

 

Thanks, Illni! Your former set is exactly what I'm shooting for. Thanks for the pics.

Tom

 

Yes. All things being equal, higher grades tend to hold their value and appreciate better.

Apologizing in advance for my bluntness.... If you think thumb strike is the biggest difference between 64s and 65s, you need a bit more experience before buying anything.

I would look at another 100 to 1000 coins and discuss them with someone who really knows how to grade the series well and who is trustworthy. Then buy high-end or otherwise nice 64s (as Illini suggests above), once your eye is trained. Or at least that's what I would do.

Have you considered a "date" set in higher grade?

Have you considered just buying the nicest key date you can afford rather than a set?

If I were looking to these coins as an investment, I would....Mike (who thinks that coins are a terrible investment and you should really just collect whatever you LIKE)

 

See Below.

 

"Apologizing in advance for my bluntness.... If you think thumb strike is the biggest difference between 64s and 65s, you need a bit more experience before buying anything."

"I would look at another 100 to 1000 coins and discuss them with someone who really knows how to grade the series well and who is trustworthy. Then buy high-end or otherwise nice 64s (as Illini suggests above), once your eye is trained. Or at least that's what I would do."


Really? I work full time and I have two young children. Do you think I have time to look at a thousand coins? Do you think I really need to do that before I start putting together a slabbed short set of common date Walkers that cost about $50 a piece?

As for being blunt, how about this..... Next time you're thinking about sending out an arrogant, condescending, anonymous post on a website that should be a fun resource for people who love coins, do us all a favor and don't.

Thanks again to all those who gave me helpful/well intentioned responses. There really are a lot of neat people on here. Now on to collecting!!!

 

You may disagree with Leadfoot's bluntness in his comments, but you should still consider what he says.

You maybe don't need to look at 1000 examples before buying, but if you want a better set you should learn the series. As Leadfoot sort of indicated, the thumb strike isn't really any indication of wear or the difference of a 64 to 65 on many dates. Some dates will have a flat thumb even on an MS66, while others you can find fully struck on AU examples.

I don't have the references myself, but I'm sure there are some great Walker books out there that go through each date and will describe which ones will come fully struck and which ones it'll be hard to find fully struck. For the dates that often come weak, you will be able to find examples that are struck far better than average, but only if you know the date and have seen many examples of that date for comparison.

 

Here's what you should do. Go to HA.com. Make an account if you don't already have one. Then select your preferred grades and slabs, and look at the coins. Just look at 'em. Over and over, you'll begin to notice the fine intricacies that are on an MS65 as opposed to an MS64. It's much more than just the thumb.

 

I've read the book by Jeff Ambio. I didn't say the ONLY issue between 64's and 65's is thumb strike. I said all things else being equal, luster, bag marks, etc., between the two grades, the thumb strike was the only thing that jumped out at me. As I stated in the OP, some 65's look like crap and I wouldn't buy them if they were graded MS 70.

I'm most concerned with eye appeal. If I like it, other people will, too.

I don't have the kind of time it would take to do all of the things people suggest doing here. This is a hobby. You guys make it sound like a job!

 

You know what....I just re-read what Leadfoot said and what the other posters have said. My response was over-the-top. Its actually good advice and until I'm in a position to devote more time to studying specific series I should just back off with the purchasing.

Leadfoot, I apologize for my vitrolic response. You were actually trying to help me out. My bad and thanks.

Tom

 

Takes a good man to admit he was wrong... it's not that you should back off of purchasing, it's that knowledge is power, and we don't want to see you get burned. Sometimes people get tunnel vision with this kind of stuff (God knows I ALWAYS do) and it's frequently a good idea to take a step back and reconsider your plan.

 

Depending on your budget, you could easily just start jumping into buying them as you find them. Then, when you find a better example for the grade just buy it and sell off your old example. MS64 Walkers are realitively easy to sell and you likely wouldn't lose more than a few bucks on each "trade" and you might even break even or make a few bucks, depending on the buyer you find.

I've done that in the past when I was starting sets. It was within my budget to buy several examples, study them in hand at my convenience and then later sell off the ones I didn't like as much. Unfortunately, in doing that sometimes I like more than one example and end up keeping several duplicates

Good luck and remember to have fun with it!!

 

Thanks, fellas.