Collecting early Walker halves

I am starting to collect the early Walking Liberty halves, those that were minted from 1916 to 1920. These are challenging to collect and I am a little confused. From what I am reading and seeing, the grading standards for the early Walkers are a little more liberal than those minted after 1920. I was told once that the grading for the early walker is graded one half or greater than a Walker grading 1921 or later. I am looking at several examples of the early walkers and trying to understand what makes a VG, F and VF coin. Have any of you had any experiences on purchasing or grading these?

 

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Good question , but most series are graded by date and MM anyways so there might be a slight difference . Can I ask if you have any specialty books on the series ?

 

The official grading guide of US coins. At the end of the section, they mention special grading for the early dates.

 

David Lawrence has a wealth of info on his sight for numerous types .

 

Dimedude2,
You can also search sites such as Heritage and Collectors corner for graded examples of early date Walkers. You should have luck finding many examples in those grades. Good luck with your quest. It is hard to find nice raw coins that have not been cleaned and expensive to find graded ones.

 

You are correct. The early Walker dates are graded a little more liberally. Strikes were weaker on these as well.

 

Good luck finding examples with great meat and original surfaces. I attempt to keep these in my inventory for my clients, but they tend to be more expensive than previously boinked coins and many folks will not support that price structure. It's a tough nut to crack.

 

Tom B I will have to watch your site. I see a pretty nice 1919 right now. I used to try to get those early ones raw but too many times toning over a very old cleaning got me when I sent them in to be graded.

 

thank's geek. I've been a Walker fan since i was a kid. that's a great book. in my files now.

 

I do not specifically collect Walking Liberty halves, but it is my favorite coin design. I have been an admirer of this coin for years and have many in my collection. Most walkers do tone in usual charcoal gray sheen. As seen below.

 

How ever I feel that makes find a truly colorful toned walker even better