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The Walking Liberty Half Dollar
The Walking Liberty Half Dollar is widely considered the most beautiful silver coin the U.S. has produced. It really is a striking coin (no pun intended!), especially with the newer modified design on the Silver Eagles.
It was first struck in 1916, when the new Director of the U.S. Mint, Robert W. Woolley, began replacing the Barber coinage. Woolley had misinterpreted the coinage laws. He thought that since the current coins had been in circulation for 25 years, they must be replaced. In reality, 25 years was just the minimum amount of time for coins to be in circulation. Woops! Sorry Barber!
Woolley reached out to the Commission of Fine Arts to conduct a competition for the coin design. The Mint submitted sketches (Designs by Barber), however the Commission didn’t like them very much. (Poor Barber can’t catch a break!)
They selected three sculptors to submit designs, Adolph Weinman, Herman MacNeil, and Albin Polasek. Weinman’s design was the chosen winner for the Half Dollar, and the dime (Which was to be commonly known as the Mercury dime).
A Young German Immigrant Begins His Life’s Work
Adolph Weinman was born December 11 1870, in a small town in Germany called Durmersheim. When He was 14, he immigrated with his mother to New York City.
Having shown a talent for art and sculpture, at age 15 he quickly began an apprenticeship with Frederick Kaldenberg, a well known wood and ivory carver. At the same time, he was also taking evening classes at a nearby art school, Cooper Union. Quite an ambitious young man!
Weinman later went on to study at the Art Students League of New York, and then went on to study directly with prominent sculptors in their studios. One of those sculptors was none other than Augustus Saint-Gaudens!
Weinman Collaborates With Saint-Gaudens
Weinman studied under Saint-Gaudens as his assistant for 3 years until Saint-Gaudens decided to move to Paris. As we all know, he would return shortly and design the most beautiful gold coin ever produced, the Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle.
Weinman is best remembered for his work on the half dollar of course, but he is also well remembered for designing the “Mercury” dime, (Or the winged liberty dime) as well as numerous medals for the Armed Forces of the United States.
His most widely distributed work aside from circulated coins, was the Victory Button, which was presented to every veteran of World War I.
In 1905 Augustus Saint-Gaudens reached out to Adolph Weinman asking if he would assist in the creation of the Inaugural Medal for President Theodore Roosevelt. Weinman accepted, and due to Saint-Gaudens failing health, Weinman did most of the sculpting while Saint-Gaudens did the designing.
Barber Tries to Delay The Coins (Again)
It’s widely believed that the figure from the half dollar, and the dime were both based on the likeness of Elsie Kachel Stevens, whom he had previously sculpted a bust of. Elsie was the wife of poet Wallace Stevens, who had previously rented an apartment from Weinman in New York City.
Weinman encountered several obstacles during production and designing of the new coinage, these obstacles were thrown at him by someone we met previously.
Unsurprisingly, as we saw in our article about the Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle, Charles E. Barber was not pleased.
In classic fashion, he was sullen, uncooperative, and threw every obstacle possible at the new coin designs. I mean, how jealous can you get? Your coins were out for 25 years buddy!
If you continue to be shown that your work isn’t popular or not good enough, maybe you should focus on improving your skill rather than tearing other people down right?
I don’t mean to keep painting Barber in a bad light, but man! The guy just couldn’t work with other people! To be fair, he was essentially forced to help undo his life’s work. So I do understand that would be incredibly hard to participate in.
High Demand For The Newly Minted Coin
In 1916, the coin was released. Despite the distraction of impending war looming on the horizon, Adolph Weinman’s design for the half dollar was well received.
With all three Mints having trouble keeping up with the demand, the Walking Liberty Half Dollar soon became one of the most popular coins of all time. It’s hard not to admire it with a design so eye-catching. It’s popularity certainly didn’t end here!
It’s a valuable, rare coin many people still search for today!
A very well preserved Liberty Half Dollar sold for $60,000.00 just this last October of 2020!
The American Silver Eagle Reintroduces Weinman’s Work
In 1986, The U.S. Mint revived Weinman’s obverse design of the half dollar for the new American Silver Eagles.
John Mercanti (who would later become Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint in 2006) redesigned Weinman’s design by strengthening the lines, noting that the original was a soft sculpt. He believed that by creating stronger lines in the coin, the details would pop more and have more metal flow than the original coins.
I think he was right too! The new design on the Silver Eagle is absolutely stunning. It really does Weinman’s original design justice, and elevated it to something it wasn’t able to be back in the early 1900s.
Do You Own A Silver Eagle Or Weinman Half Dollar?
With such a beautiful design, it’s hard not to want one. Since its revival, you now have two different forms of it! Since this is the last year of the current reverse design, I’d grab one quick if I were you!
Do you agree on the Walking Liberty Half Dollar being the most beautiful silver coin? What coin do you think is the most beautiful? Let us know in the comments!
And don’t forget, if you’ve got a Silver Eagle, or a Walking Liberty Half Dollar you want to sell, it’s free to list an unlimited number of coins here on coinsforsale.com!
- Written by Coinsforsale.com and reposted with permission
