1923-S 50C Walking Liberty Half Dollar PCGS MS65 (CAC)

We at AUCM are proud to offer a stunning Condition Rarity: a 1923-S Walking Liberty half dollar graded PCGS MS65 (CAC). This is one of only three issues produced between 1921 and 1929: 1923-S, 1927-S, and 1928-S. David Hall writes, "All three coins are scarce in higher grades, rare in mint state condition, and very rare in Gem condition. The 1923-S is ... definitely the rarest of the three in ... Gem mint state condition." Mint state pieces of the 1923-S are elusive, which indicates extensive commercial use. This issue typically has a weak strike in the central devices on both sides, Liberty's hand and the eagle's feathers. However, in MS65, this 1923-S is certainly a beauty.

Renowned numismatic art critic and scholar Cornelius Vermeule writes of this beautiful coin, "The Liberty Walking half dollar ... really treat[s] the obverse and reverse as a surface sculptural ensemble. The Liberty Walking design particularly gives the true feeling for breadth and sculptural surfaces on the scale of a coin. These surfaces are formal, like a well-carved marble or precisely cast bronze relief for a war memorial .... the rising sun amid landscape anchors the motion of Liberty, her olive branch, and her starry cloak. On the reverse, the eagle standing on rocks with a gnarled tree at the left dominates but does not overwhelm the design. The working of the feathers is a miraculous coup de force ...."