Rumor or truth?

fivecents

A dealer told me that the 1921-s walker has a higher value than the 1921-p in unc grades because alot of the 1921-s walkers had their mint marks removed (altered) to look like the higher value 1921-p. The 1921-s has almost double the mintage of the 1921-p.

jdimmick

I dont belive thats the reason. I think it has more to do with many of the s-mint coins went straight into circulation and were not saved as quickly as the P and D counterparts. Thats why the 21-s is availble in grades g thru Vf at decent prices, but the True XF and higher are quite tough and expensive. Also, I find the 21-s coins have a tendency to not be as nice strike wise as the p and d coins.

Many 21-s' you find on the market are graded fairly loosely even in PCGS holders, also cleaned or lightly wiped. Finding a true original XF and better yet Au and higher is a real prize and expect to dish out some dough.

I recently bidded on a PCGS-50 21-s on e-bay. Nice original coin, but probably an Xf-48 to be honest. I placed a bid at 7700.00 and thought for sure Id get it, wrong, sold for 8950.00.

jim

coinkat

I have not heard that before. I always thought that the majority of 21-s WLH's were released into circulation and very few rolls were kept.

Proof69Eagles

Wish I had known that yesterday, there was a nice 21-S on Ebay for $19 and no one bid on it and it ended.

fivecents

jdimmick, coinkat...Why were the 1921-s walkers not as heavily saved in the upper grades as the 1921-p/d, did the collectors back in 1921 & 1922 know what the mintage figures were?

PR69eagles...The price difference only changes in the upper grades.

haletj

I just think people on the west coast did not collect or save coins in the early-mid twenties. With the booming economy everything was rushed out into circulation. I think in fact most uncirculated late teen/early 20's S walkers come from 1 small hoard of rolls saved by Walter Breen. In that hoard was only 1 roll of 21-s while the other dates all had at least several rolls.

Veep

I don't know if enough "s" mintmarks were removed to make a difference, but in one of the Bowers books that I own, he claims just what Five Cents is saying. Within a short timeframe after 1921, mintage figures became more widely known and 21-s halves were indeed altered into 21 plains. If I can find the exact passage, I'll post it.

Breen claims the same thing in his Complete Encyclopedia except with the "D" mintmark removed.

coinkat

The 1921-D is still a very low mintage coin... I am not saying this did not happen, I am just not aware of it.

Conder101

<< <i>...Why were the 1921-s walkers not as heavily saved in the upper grades as the 1921-p/d, did the collectors back in 1921 & 1922 know what the mintage figures were? >>


One thing to remember is that the population on the west coast was a much smaller percentage of the nations population back then than it is now, so most of the nations collectors lived on the east coast. The smaller nmber of west coast collectors meant a smaller number of rolls saved. And without the highway system that we have today the coins would have taken much longer to work their way east. By the time the halves reached the collectors in the east they would have significant wear.