She Said, "Come to Me!", and I Did!

I was at my local coin shop and was going through a box of type coins the dealer had on hand. While doing so, I sorted through an assortment of flying eagle cents, 1950-D unc nicks, etc. I suddenly heard my name being called and, as I looked about, this graceful woman said that I must admire her finery. Lo and behold, this Walking Liberty Half caught my eye.

She has a bit of green toning, especially on the obverse, that I found attractive. She is also a key date, 1938-D (491,600 minted). I think she is between F and VF and I paid the grey sheet price of between these grades. Now that I look this date up on e-bay, it appears I may have overpaid. Oh well, I do like the light gray green toning that I hope comes across in my photo:





So, 3 questions for you since I'm not a WLH collector:

- What grade would you give?

- Is the toning natural or artificial?

- Is this a series that is over valued in the greysheet pricing guide? (hidden question really......the real one is did I pay too much?) My experience is that greysheet is behind the market at least with early Large Cents and Seated Dollars.

Your thoughts? All comments are welcome.

 

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I'm not a WLH collector either. I'd grade the coin VF 35 or XF 40.

Toning is natural, in my opinion.

I can't help you on valuation -- just don't follow them closely enough...Mike

 

catbert,

time for another of your visits for the compulsive behavior

 

Yes, I am terribly compulsive. My wife was not too pleased that I spent the money after buying my token recently. Perhaps I do need counselling!

While I await the forum's feedback on my questions, I will quote a passage from "Numismatic Art in America" regarding this coin:

"This half dollar, one of the greatest coins of the United States--if not the world--is as modern as official sculpture can ever be. It has the combination of naturalism, classicism, and dignified inner balance, a generally suave figure style in the midst of traditonal poses,....." (and on it goes - don't want GDSMJPLKJUVN to delete my post for exessive quotations).

How's them apples?

 

them apples havegone back up on the tree i think

 

Nice coin Cat, I like 'er.

Purdue's in trouble today.....

 

I would call it VF20 (uh...forgot the V somehow). I don't have a gray sheet so I don't know what kindof price you paid for it...I paid $15 for my F a few years back but know that they are quite a bit more than that now. The last few my dealer had he sold for around $90-$140 each.

Speedy

 

I'd say its a solid VF. I don't see anything that leads me to believe to toning is artificial, but I'm not expert. As for the greysheet value, I don't have a current greysheet, so I don't know. Nice coin though. It looks very similar to the 1938-D in my collection, except that mine is just silverish/greyish in color.

 

Speedy - grey sheet F = $100, VF = $120, I paid $115.

 

$115? Not bad.

 

From my experience of WLH's, I would grade this VF- 25 to VF-30. It has really nice skirt lines, and sharp details on the eagle.

 

I'm not sure about VF - the reverse is clean, but the obverse has some issues. There's the black dot on the left and the "bald" spot on Liberty's breast - they draw too much attention to themselves.

Having said that, $115 is not a bad price at all. I dream about getting one and and in my fantasy budget, I've allocated $100 for a VG example.

And if you like the toning, that's a plus.

 

I believe the obv. is EF-40, the reverse almost EF. The color looks natural to me, but I can't tell if it might have an old cleaning. Tilting under a point source light would reveal hairlines if present. Pretty coin!

 

I think you got a good deal!

Speedy

 

I agree with you that these are the weaknesses of the coin and I could have passed on it. But, as spock correctly observed, I have a compulsion and could not resist its siren call. This is a crusty one. I still would like to own a few uncirculated versions like AdamL's.

Thanks to all for your feedback! :hail:

 

Here is a pic of an NGC XF40 half (courtesy Heritage lot #21430). Could someone please show me why catbert's is not the same or better. BTW, there is no comparison on the back. NGC's feathers are almost not there.

 

Nice coin Cat , gosh the grades are all over F to XF , well I'll go VF-35 looks like original toning , Coin Values got it at $225 for VF-20 , I think you did well .
rzage

 

Maybe NGC just blew it? I'm reviewing my ANA grading guide and I don't think the NGC coin pictured meets anywhere close to their picture. Here's what the ANA says for the EF-40 obverse description:

"Wear shows on head, breast, arms, and legs. Nearly all gown lines are visible. Sandal details are complete. Breast and knee are nearly flat. Surface: Traces of mint luster may still show."

Now I'm a tad confused. But, I'm not a WLH collector, so I'm trying to learn from the learned here!

P.S. My coin shows only one breast as flat!!!!!!!! (wink)

 

I think they blew it also. However, I think their coin is a good VF. Therefore, yours should be VF. That is what I was trying to point out.

 

Re: My Toning Question

Here is an off angle view of the obverse under light. Note some streaking gold tones on top of the overall light grey green toning: