1938-D 50C Walking Liberty Half Dollar PCGS MS66

Helpful PCGS MS66 Price Information:

Collector's Universe: $2,750.

Coin Dealer Newsletter: $1,600.

Relevant auction records (average of $1,745.): 

• 08/2024 HA @ $1,800.
• 08/2024 HA @ $1,560.
• 08/2024 GC @ $1,665.
• 07/2024 GC @ $1,846.
• 07/2024 GC @ $1,856.

Here’s a stunning example of one of the desirable key-date coins of the Walking Liberty half dollar series. The low mintage (491,000) of 1938-D dramatically sets it apart from the other half dollar issues of the 1930s. This smaller production was the result of a slowdown in business and other economic activities from late 1937 and into 1938.

The 1938-D is a unique Walking Liberty half dollar. How so? Circulated examples are rare, while Mint State pieces are just scarce. Only the 1921 and 1921-D have lower production figures. PCGS has graded 544 as MS66 with 200 finer. Collector's Universe prices this issue at $2,750.00 in MS66. 

A bas relief of Adolph A. Weinman, who designed the Walking Liberty half, by his former student, Anthony de Francisci, 1915. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

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 ....”