The Walking Liberty Half Dollar series boasts a bevy of key dates and scarcities that keep collectors on their toes, and the emissions from the 1920s are no exception. In fact, the run of 1920s-dated Walking Liberty Half Dollars may just be the most collectively challenging of the lot.
Several years (1922, 1924, 1925, 1926) saw no Walking Liberty Half Dollars at all. Only one U.S. Mint facility produced the coin during a few other years (1923, 1927, 1928). A handful of key dates rolled out during the decade (1921, 1921-D, and 1921-S), and many of the halves from across the decade rightfully claim semi-key status.
Then came the 1927-S, a coin whose mintage of 2,392,000 suggests it’s a tough date. And, by and large it is. As PCGS CoinFacts reports, “The 1927-S is scarce in higher circulated grades, rare in mint state, and very rare in Gem condition.” The resource goes on to say that the 1927-S is “a little bit easier to find than the 1923-S and 1928-S.” However, the 1927-S remains a difficult coin to land in better grades and often is hampered by striking issues.
That said, those who are building a boss PCGS Registry Set of Walking Liberty Half Dollars should be able to locate a decent example of a 1927-S given enough time and – perhaps – an abundance of money. While a G4 specimen sells for around $50, an F12 fetches $90 and an XF40 garners $475 in retail transactions. From there, prices hit $3,600 in MS63 and take a lofty $9,000 in MS65.
Those who want to achieve big things with their Walking Liberty Half Dollar Registry Set might need to go all the way up the grading scale to MS66 to help solidify a top cabinet. And that’s where the really big money comes into play. The record price for a 1927-S Walking Liberty Half Dollar was hammered in 2015, when a PCGS MS66 notched a whopping $44,650