The 1929-S Walker with missing AW - Breen 5154

dan1ecu

There seems to be quite a premium for this variety of Walking Liberty Half, which is missing the initials AW on the reverse. Here are two examples:

Breen 5154 #1

Breen 5154 #2

Does anyone know if the coin is really as rare as they make it out to be? Is this kind of error worth the premium? It's not really something obvious, like a three-legged buffalo or a proof coin missing a mint mark. What do you think about it?

Dan

DHeath

It's an abraded die variety. They're not common, but not rare. They fall in the same category as the 22 plain Lincoln, the three-leg Buffalo, the no FG Kennedys, etc. With the Kennedys, Breen was a little over-aggressive. Breen assigned numbers to the following date Kennedys; 66, 72-D, 82-P (footless), 82-D, 83-P. He also mentioned the 73-P without a reference number. I believe Coneca has taken the position only the abraded die coins are varieties (66, 82-P), and probably rightly believe most of the other coins are the result of clogged dies or die fatigue. Interestingly enough, the new Cherrypickers lists the 66 and 72-D, but not the 82-P. There's little consensus.

Breen - 66, 72-D, 82-P, 82-D, 83-P, maybe 73-P (ANACS attributes Breen)
F/S - 66, 72-D (NGC attributes F/S)
Coneca - 66, 82-P

coinkat

There are other dates in the series such as the 1918-D that do not have initials... the higher the grade, the greater the rarity. $240 for a fine 15 29-s seems a bit steep.

DHeath

And the 41 proof, if memory serves.

solid

I really don't know what premium these carry, here's a '38 Proof with no initials.



Ken

TWODOGS

There's also the 1943-S, Breen 5200. I found this one a while back.

coinkat

A decent example of the 43-s...