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Liberty Walking - wear vs. weak strike

Jeffrey1Jeffrey1 Posts: 70
in U.S. Coin Forum
Are Liberty Walking half dollars subject to weak strike? I just received a 1943 MS66 and in a PCGS slab. I notice the hand holding the flowers is not as well defined as I would have expected. Is this a typical problem area for this coin? I have 2 others that have been circulated that show definite wear and loss of definition between the hand and stems of the flowers. I don't think the MS66 is showing wear - reverse has all the detail I would expect. Also, is weak strike taken into consideration when grading at PCGS?

thanks
Jeff
Liberty . . . In God We Trust . . . not just words - A way of life

Comments

  • TomBTomB Posts: 21,918 ✭✭✭✭✭
    WLHs are notorious for weak strikes especially within the central portion of the obverse. A weakly struck coin might be kept to a lower MS grade, but even if they are not I would still be mighty careful about incorporating one into my own set or placing one with a client unless it was necessary.
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  • fivecentsfivecents Posts: 11,207 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Talk about weak strike, this is my coin and is graded MS62 by PCGS. This coin has full luster on the weak areas.

    image

    image
  • Walkerguy21DWalkerguy21D Posts: 11,594 ✭✭✭✭✭
    That coin looks like it was a die spacing trial piece, performed while setting up a die - not just a weak strike.
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  • BillJonesBillJones Posts: 34,587 ✭✭✭✭✭
    No, the San Francisco mint, for whatever reason, issued a lot of poorly struck Walking LIberty half dollars through out the series. This one is far worse than average, but I would not call it some sort of "mint error" because of the weak strike.

    Believe it or not a goodly number of the 1941 and 1942 Proof Walkers were not well struck iether.
    Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
  • IrishMikeyIrishMikey Posts: 1,561 ✭✭✭


    << <i>That coin looks like it was a die spacing trial piece, performed while setting up a die - not just a weak strike. >>


    It does look that way, but given the huge numbers of 'S' mint halves from the 1940's that look that way, they can't
    all be die adjustment pieces.
  • Walkerguy21DWalkerguy21D Posts: 11,594 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Huge numbers that look like this?! I've been studying the series for nearly 30 years, and I have seen more than my share of poorly struck walkers, but I can't recall ever seeing an AU or MS coin from any year or any mint with an obverse that looked anything close to this, with even the breast missing. Even the worst AU 27S, 28S, or 40S still had the breasts intact, even though the central regions were obliterated.
    Successful BST transactions with 171 members. Ebeneezer, Tonedeaf, Shane6596, Piano1, Ikenefic, RG, PCGSPhoto, stman, Don'tTelltheWife, Boosibri, Ron1968, snowequities, VTchaser, jrt103, SurfinxHI, 78saen, bp777, FHC, RYK, JTHawaii, Opportunity, Kliao, bigtime36, skanderbeg, split37, thebigeng, acloco, Toninginthblood, OKCC, braddick, Coinflip, robcool, fastfreddie, tightbudget, DBSTrader2, nickelsciolist, relaxn, Eagle eye, soldi, silverman68, ElKevvo, sawyerjosh, Schmitz7, talkingwalnut2, konsole, sharkman987, sniocsu, comma, jesbroken, David1234, biosolar, Sullykerry, Moldnut, erwindoc, MichaelDixon, GotTheBug
  • fivecentsfivecents Posts: 11,207 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Huge numbers that look like this?! I've been studying the series for nearly 30 years, and I have seen more than my share of poorly struck walkers, but I can't recall ever seeing an AU or MS coin from any year or any mint with an obverse that looked anything close to this, with even the breast obliterated. image

    The unique look of this coin and the coolness factor is the reason why I submitted it to PCGS.
  • LindeDadLindeDad Posts: 18,766 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The 1943-P is the highest mintage of the whole series die wear may of been a cause of what look to be weakly struck coins. Other factors were that this was at the hieght of WWII and the mint was suffering a manpower shortage for the increased work load. Many do not realize but the mint makes the military medals and during this time frame they needed a lot more of those too.
    image
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  • orevilleoreville Posts: 12,120 ✭✭✭✭✭
    fivecents: That is a fabulous 1945-S weak struck walker. I love it!
    A Collectors Universe poster since 1997!
  • coinkatcoinkat Posts: 23,631 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I think the 1940-s and 41-s are the worst in terms of quality for those keeping score

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  • breakdownbreakdown Posts: 2,217 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I agree with Oreville -- very cool weak strike 45-S. Reminds me of some of the MS Buffalo nickels that have horrendous strikes.

    "Look up, old boy, and see what you get." -William Bonney.

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