Circulation was not kind to this lovely but intricate coin. Many circulated examples have been worn away to nearly nothing. But uncirculated versions are very expensive. The walking Liberty half is intricate (although not as much as the quarter) and can be found in PCGS MS 63 condition for a little over $50 (you could probably find one under $50 if you looked long enough) and the Mercury dime and buffalo nickel can also be found in MS condition for a reasonable amount of money. Why were the SLQs not saved in large numbers? Or were the coins shipped from the mint in bad condition? edited
Three cheers for SLQs. I always thought the design was cool. The series has an amazingly short run of only 15 years (1916-1930), which is tiny compared to the long runs of today. I wondered if the depression hurt the populations of MS coins since people couldn't afford to save them but needed to spend them for bread and milk.
If your price range is only ~$50, then simply save a couple budget cycles for a nice high AU or low MS 1920. They range from $110-170 and are a great value since this is the highest mintage date/mm. As to why SLQ are relatively expensive is likely due to the combination of relatively low mintages, short production run and heavy use in commerce. Plus, 7 years of the production run had premature datelessness (1916-1924). Whereas Mercs, Buffs and WLHs had much longer production runs and high mintages, which provides for greater AU/MS supply now which also pushes down 'value'. Good luck in your search.
Survival. If few people saved uncirculated examples when the coins were being issued they are - relatively - expensive. The hobby of coin collecting has always had it's ups and downs based on economic conditions - as times got tougher and tougher in the Great Depression, saving that MS quarter vs. putting food on the table caused a lot of the saved exampled to be spent...
>edited >Last edited by a moderator: 5 minutes ago Why was my post moderated? I'm not trying to sell him a coin; just trying to help him find one.
To find the answer look at something as simply as wheat cents. Coins from the teens and twenties are the "good ones", being much scarcer. The 1930's are a little better, but become more available, and the 40's and 50's downright overly common. Now, imagine if wheat cents stopped at 1930. Wheat cents as a type would be 95% rarer than today, right? Well that is what happened to the SL quarters. Very short run and none of the run reached the 40's where coin production went through the roof. Therefor, they are in very high demand as a Type coin, and are scarce. Btw, almost no coins were saved in AU/BU condition before the late 30's. Coin collecting was not very large in this country, so 99% or more were never saved until coin collecting became really popular after WWII.
Type Unc. SLQs are more expensive than type Mercury dimes or Walking Lib. halves because SLQs weren't made in the 1940s.
Three cheers for SLQs. I always thought the design was cool. The series has an amazingly short run of only 15 years (1916-1930), which is tiny compared to the long runs of today. I wondered if the depression hurt the populations of MS coins since people couldn't afford to save them but needed to spend them for bread and milk.
I'm guessing because rules say anything involving buying or selling of any kind needs to be done through Private Message, even if you are not directly selling something to him.
This. The prices for many of the 1910s and 1920s era Mercury Dime and Walking Liberty Half Dollar are more expensive that the quoted prices. The cheaper prices are for the short set coins (1940s).
