Value of 1921-D Walking Liberty Half vs 1916-D Merc Dime

I built two sets of Mercury dimes but could never bring myself to buy the 16-D. I did not have to have it to be happy with the sets.

 

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1909-S vdb, 16-D are my top two favorite holes.

 

Don't forget:

 

Those are in the top ten!

 

That 1912-S was the coin that finished my set.

 

Someone in the factory had to be trolling including the 13 in the folder. Even if you could afford it youd have to be insane to put that in a folder which is probably the worst display way to store coins

 

@Stevearino the more difficult question to ask yourself IF and when you decide to sell is how? Are your going to try and sell it to an LCS; on this or another Forum; through an Ebay Auction or BIN; or through a top tier Auction House such as Great Collections (GC), Heritage, Stacks-Bowers? As a complete collection in the "Library of Coins" Album or as graded coins where you would have to pick a TPG and then again decide, as above, a venue and whether as a complete collection or as individual coins. I know, that is a lot to ponder. IF you do decide to sell, and want a larger potential audience of collectors, I would strongly suggest Great Collections (I have sold many coins, and a set through them, with good success and good prices realized); they would probably take your set in the "Library of Coins" Album (check with Ian Russell first @ 800-442-6467) as is, OR, you could have him remove the 65 (or 67 if you had the Obverse and Reverse MM varieties) from the Album and send them to either PCGS or NGC (or ANACS if you wanted to minimize your fees, but also your return) at his reduced Submitter Fees. Great Collections pays for Shipping & Insurance to and from the TPGs, which minimizes your fees to GC when everything is sold. NOTE: if you have GC list them individually, your Listing Fee per coin ranges from $3 to $10 depending upon the starting Bid, with a 5% Sellers Fee for coins that sell up to $999; IF you have them listed as a COMPLETE SET either Raw in the Album or as Slabbed, the Final selling Price would definitely exceed $1,000 so there would NOT be ANY Sellers Fee (a huge savings)! Good luck to you no matter which decision you make.

 

The consensus seems to be demand for the Merc series and getting the key coin in the series justifies the value disparity. I think the disparity in value should narrow from what it's currently at, as I firmly believe there are just as many Walker collectors as Merc dime collectors seeking key date fills. I have 3 full sets of Merc dimes (including1916-Ds) and 1 full set of Walkers (but have 2 1921-D coins). I drool (common for old farts like me, regardless of the occasion) when I see a decent 1921-D for sale.

 

First let me be honest with you, I don't know what you should do? Now, with that out of the way, I sold the bulk of my collection in the late 90's. We were buying some things that the "extra" money came in handy. But, we could have made it fine without me selling my collection. But, my wife asked me to sell it to help out, so I did. Several years later, my wife said something about what did I have that meant the most to me? I told her that I had sold what had meant the most to me, my coin collection. She almost started crying, and asked why didn't I tell her before I sold it? I thought she knew? It meant nothing to her, so she assumed it had little meaning to me? She encouraged me to start again, and I have. I've got, mostly what I had before. I didn't sell everything I had before, kept some individual coins, but sold my completed collections. I've regretted it since the day I sold them. No, I don't dwell on that. It's done and can't be undone. What I have today only means something to me. My wife could care less about coin collecting. But, I love it! It's my hobby. I'm not investing in coins, I'm having fun collecting coins. I'm not planning on starting to collect a new series. I pick up individual coins I like, but don't anticipate any new collections. But, I'll keep the ones I have, as long as I can. That was a lot about nothing, sorry. My advice would be to keep anything sentimental, that cannot be replaced. I had kept my sentimental coins, and am glad I did. Maybe they only mean something to you, so what? They mean something to YOU! I enjoy just looking through my coins. No one else does, but I do, and I will do that as long as I can. If I had to sell mine for a real need, they are gone, no question about it. But, I would still keep a few "certain" coins. Like the 1912 D Nickel my mother wore in her shoe in 1930 when she married my Dad. Some things, I think, are meant to be kept. Well, that's my 2 cents worth, hope it helps? My advice, again if you have a choice, don't sell "memories".

 

Wish there was a way to hit the "Like" button a hundred times.

 

Appreciate you sharing your thoughts on this.

 

Loved this, and I can definitely understand where you're coming from. I've definitely reached the age when I'm thinking seriously about what to do with my collection. We don't need the money as the state retirement system for public employees is ridiculously good. My pay for many years was pretty bad, and I actually got a raise in take-home pay when I retired.

Anyway, what to do with the coins? None of my potential heirs has any interest in coins, and even though I've given my wife instructions about what to do with them, it wouldn't be easy for her. I haven't mentioned Great Collections to her, but I can see that I should. I was surprised that no one here mentioned DLRC as they're honest and seem to have some good auction selling policies. Anybody have any experience with them?

I sold some coins years ago through Heritage, and I used to buy from Heritage but don't do it anymore, as their fees are too high. Also, when buying from them they collect state tax where I live and that adds an additional 7% to a coin's price. And don't get me started about their shipping charges!

I also sold some coins through Teletrade, but they no longer exist.

I do have some thoughts about the price differential between the 16-D 10c and the 21-D 50c. Even though the mintages are similar and favor the 21-D, the truth is that lower-denomination coins have always circulated more than higher-denomination coins. Thus, there would likely be more 21-D survivors relative to 16-Ds because of the denomination. Where I've lived, the halves were much easier to find. I once bought an accumulation of W-L halves from a student in one of my classes, and they were almost all common dates except for an AG-G 21-D.

Sorry to be so long-winded, but the OP's question and responses to it triggered a lot of thoughts. I would second the idea about keeping any coins with sentimental value.

 

You know how the ols saying goes: "Walkers and Mercs will get you through times of no condo better than a condo will get you through times of no Walkers and Mercs!" I'm paraphrasing someone else, but I'm at least 45% sure that this is a true statement....