I know that the mint marks on Walking Liberty half dollars are at about 7 Oclock when you look at the coin, The only problem is... I can't find the mint on my 1945 Walking Liberty half dollar. There is a letter W but I don't know what that means.. Please help me, very new to coins. Thank you
The W is the designer's initial, Weinman. If your coin has no MM, then it was minted in Philly. Welcome to the forum!!
Does that mean that is worth basically nothing ? I have more walking liberties, haven't gone through them yet. I have a 1923, maybe older ones...
They are silver, right now they are worth 5.5X face even if they are worn out. Depending on the condition, your Philly minted coin could be worth far more.
what do you mean far more ? Like 50 cents x 5 ? $2.50.. I'm just getting into coins, I don't know anything..
And by the way, some of the most expensive coins ever made came from the Philadelphia mint. The Philly mint is the "mother mint" in the US, only the other mints had to put their mark on the coins. Philly coins can be worth much more than coins minted in the other mints. It all depends on the mintages.
The mint mark for this series is on the front for 1916 and some 1917's at around 4 o'clock. And from 1917-47 it's on the reverse at 7 o'clock.
to CoinTalk. That '23 could be worth a few hundred dollars in lightly circulated condition. In VF condition - which is nice but not great - the 1921D I need to complete my Walking Liberty set will probably set me back well over $500 if I can find a bargain! (The Philly version is a couple of hundred bucks cheaper in the same grade.) BTW except for the World War II silver nickles, no Philadelpha coins were mintmarked until 1980 or so.
At this point in time your best bet is to buy a book. I recommend a Red Book. It has so much information in it and is well worth the small investment.
And another newbie is sent out to buy a womens magazine. Red Book = Slang in the world of coin collectors for A Guide Book of United States Coins by R S Yeoman Redbook = in the real world a popular womens magazine Little red book = Writings on communist philosophy by Chairman Mao
It is very much time for you to just go out and buy a book on coins. As already noted get a copy of the Red Book. That's what the book is called. The latest version out is dated 2006 and is the 59th Edition. Depending on what you are willing to spend on a coin education, that book is available at many book stores, on the internet under Whitman, coin stores or hobby shops and/or coin shows. Since your new to coin collecting, you will need to know what you are talking about as to condition, quantity minted, etc. If you don't want to spend much money just yet, hit garage / yard sales, estate sales or flea markets and look for an older issue of that book or any coin book. If it's an older issue, the prices will not be up to date but you'll learn about coins anyway. Another thing is to read a lot of stuff on this and similar coin forums. Ask a lot of questions and don't be afraid to ask anything. We all should learn something new every day and some of the simplist questions come out to be a learning experience for all.
