If You Were Going to Collect Walking Liberty Half Dollars....

As a corollary to my recent gold dollars thread, if you were going to collect WLH's, how would you do it? I'm tossing around a few different series, trying to decide which one to collect, and one of the ones I keep coming back to are the WLH's. These coins are incredibly beautiful, challenging, interesting, and achievable - all criteria for my next set. If I were to do the WLH's, however, it seems to me there are several different goals. I could do a complete set, but the early dates get very pricey. I would probably do EF coins up to a certain point, and then 65's after that. Would this look odd?

The other thing I could do is just do a short set for now. Looking at the Registry, there are two different choices for short set - starting in 1934 and starting in 1941. What is the difference in challenge level between the two, and why are there two different sets that seem rather similar? What grade would you recommend for these? Is there a particular grade where there is a big jump in price to the next grade? What grades are readily available? The WLH seems a bit more popular than the Franklin (my understatement for today), so it seems like this set might actually be easier. Comments?

In short, I'm looking for anything you might see as a pro or con for or against the WLH's.

 

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I'm doing the full set. There will be some inconsistency in grade, but I think it will still look great.

 

i was thinking of doing the same thing starting today but i wanted to get a complete wheat set first...

 

If I were going to collect WLH's, I'd shoot myself in the head first! LOL Just kidding, they are an awesome coin, too bad they don't make eagles like that anymore. I've been dumping all my old stuff and getting into a lot of the 21st century stuff. Most not, but some good potential out there.

 

I built a nice set and after that just picked up really nice ones as I found them.
Now I wish I had never messed with a set and had used that same money to buy fewer coins but much nicer ones.

 

Perhaps a good way to approach it is simply "straight forward". The question I have for you is just this;

q. From a historical perspective, the coins that are perceived as "pricey", whats been the trend for those coins over the last 5 years?
If you see that they have steadily rose in value, I would start there as they will not get any cheaper so to speak. Always buy the highest quality you can afford, even if you must save a little extra, do so and then buy a premium example.
I would love to follow your progress with this, once you have completed the most expensive, then the remaining coins will simply fall into place.

RickieB

 

I love the walking liberty halves, I'm starting a collection now from 40-47 dates, so far I have a 41-P, and a 43-P

 

I only have two LWH
thats the 1917 S obv. and a 1943 P au-50

 

I've got 15 or so different walkers and I find that the coins under XF tend to get very unattractive. If, thats a big IF, I had the money I would go after AU's in key dates and MS for the rest of the collection. But, I don't have the money and not to hip on silver coinage anyhow, but thats what I would do...

 

It sounds like if you went with WL's it would be a prime set for you.
Therefore the old rule ("buy the best you can afford") should be your guiding principle.
And if a full set of MS coins is not within you means, so be it.
I'll be encountering the same thing with IHC's, MS back to about 1879, then AU's and XF's.

My WL set is a secondary set for me, hence no grade consistency.
After starting with an Unc short set (1941-47), the rest turned out to the best coin for under $100. Naturally there were a few that had to exceed that amount.

Short sets for years have been defined as 1941 to ?? (depending upon the issue).
- Lincolns (wheats) 1941-1958
- Mercs 1941-1945
- Quarters 1941-1964
- WL's 1941-1947
Basically high grade coins are available for relatively low prices.
For those with slightly deeper pockets the beginning date moves back to the mid 1930's.
Just look at the MS-60 column in the Red Book and you can pretty much figure out where the short set's "ceiling" is.

 

One of the great things about Walkers is there are so many different ways to collect them. Many collectors start out with one of the short sets and eventually expand into the full sets. It seems a reasonable approach. Some collect the later dates in MS and the earlier dates in AU or XF. Because the later dates are so plentiful in almost all grades, it really pays to be patient with these and look for strong strikes and avoid unattractive coins that might merit high grades.
One thing I would recommend is Jeff Ambio's book on Walkers, which does a nice job of providing different collecting strategies, although some are critical of it because he makes clear that he is focused on mint state coins. There's a lot to dig into about Walkers but based on how you have immersed yourself in Franklins, I think it might be right up your alley.
Good luck and keep us apprised of your progress.:thumb:

 

If this old goat had money he would collect em too, I have several and have always like the look and feel of the WLH`s . I have some older ones that have darkened a bit but my o my I still like em . Good luck and Happy New Year everyone !

 

I'm working on a set of Walkers too. Unfortunately, I really prefer uncirculated coins so I'm trying to do a set of certified Walkers in MS64. I started out on the 1941-1947 short set which wasn't too hard/expensive, probably would cost you $1200 or so today in that grade give or take a couple hundred.

I have the 1941-47 complete (20 coins) so now I'm moving back to work on the middle dates 1933-S to 1940-S (which is also 20 coins). I have a few of those, but yeah, in MS64 some of the dates can be a little more expensive than those in the 1941-47 set. I figure the 33-40 middle date set will run me around $5000 or so give or take a few hundred.

When I finish the 40 coin 1933-S through 1947 set, then I will either give up or if I have the budget, I'll work back on the early years back to the 1916 (25 coins total) in MS64. At today's prices those 25 coins would run approximately $150,000 give or take a few thousand, with a couple of coins accounting for most of that like the 1919-D, 1919-S, 1921-D and 1921-S.

We'll see As long as I'm having fun with it I'll keep it up

 

I had collected 12 of them but then I gave up and went with graded WLH

 

I am doing a low grade set in a Dansco album, and a short set (1941 on) in slabs MS62/63/64.

Prices on the common dates has gone down a bit over the last ten years. The earlier dates have held up well. Taken as a complete set, Walker and Mercs are two of the poorer performers over the last ten years. Perhaps only classic commems have done much worse, again, as a complete set. PCGS compiles a lot of this information in their PCGS3000 coin index. As always, going forward no one knows.

I see the advice repeated so often, that I will repeat my stand, that until a person learns to grade, and learn it well, the cliche "buy the best grade you can afford," is perhaps the most dangerous and worst advice a person can take. Really.

Why is that? Because until a person learns to grade, they will not know what they are buying and are ripe for the plucking. It typically takes years to learn the subtleties of grading mint state coins. Novices taking this terrible advice are good news for dealers with marginal coins to move, or dealers that are good at talking with average coins marked at premium price. I would guess those are the two main reasons the cliche gets repeated so often, because it means a big pay day for those with coins to sell. Most novices won't know they got taken until much, much later.

As always, there is no right or wrong answer. However, it can be a good idea to glance over the prices in various grades before deciding on a way to proceed.

 

That,s a nice coin, Lots of history!! I have a couple but havent yet
Started a collection!!

 

Ive got a 41-P, and a 43-P walker, to start my collection from 41-47, im gonna get alll of them in cir condition around XF grade first, then I would like to get a certified set.

 

I don't have any advice for you, but I am also getting ready to collect Walking Liberty's. I completed a collection of Kennedy's from 64 to 85, and I have a complete set of Franklins with exception of the proofs (which I'm sill working on).

My next goal is the Walking Liberty Half, and I think that I will start with the later dates buying in as good condition as possible, and then work back to the earlier dates.

I read some of the posts here, and believe I will purchase the book that was recommended.

Good luck to you. I look forward to reading how you approach the collection.

 

I started collecting the walkers a few years ago. I've found them in various locations including auctions, ebay, and coin shows. It is a beautiful coin and I'm down to only four to complete my collection. Of course, those are the pricey ones (16S and the three from 21). Time for a little ebaying I guess.