Pattern 1916 Walking Liberty Half Dollar to be Featured in Upcoming Heritage Auction!

Dallas, Texas: Heritage Numismatic Auctions, Inc (HNAI) will offer an 1916 Walking Liberty Half Dollar, Judd-1991, formerly Judd-1798, Pollock-2056, High R.7, PR63 PCGS, in their upcoming Signature Auction, to be held May 4-7, 2005 as part of the Central States Numismatics Society convention to be held in St. Louis, MO.

"This is one of only four known examples of Judd-1991," said Greg Rohan, President of HNAI, "making it a remarkable opportunity for both pattern specialists and Walking Liberty Half Dollar collectors."

"Of the four examples known, one is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC," continued Rohan, "making it unlikely that it will ever enter the open market. Only three pieces, therefore, are available to collectors, a population identical to the famous 1913 Liberty Nickel."

"Struck in the matte proof format favored by mint officials of the era, this silver-gray specimen is unmarked and best identified by a small number of short mint-made lintmarks on Liberty's skirt," added Rohan. "Fully struck in silver with a reeded edge, Liberty's head and branch hand have definition uncommon to the eventual business strikes of the modified type. Judd-1991 is believed to be the earliest among the six varieties of pattern 1916 Walking Liberty Half Dollars. The two major devices are very similar to their adopted counterparts but are somewhat smaller in scale. HALF DOLLAR is on the upper reverse instead of the reverse exergue, and E PLURIBUS UNUM is on the lower reverse instead of its usual position above the pine sapling. Unlike Judd-1992, LIBERTY is not fixed above the motto, but is distributed across the upper obverse border. Additionally, no AW monogram is present."

"The chance to acquire a specimen of this issue may not come again for many years," Rohan concluded, "and I would encourage all numismatists to consider seriously the opportunity to add this piece to their collection."

Images, descriptions, and prices realized from all of Heritage's previous auctions are available in the Permanent Auction Archives at the Heritage website.

To purchase a catalog for this Heritage Auction, please contact Nicole Jewell at 800 872 6467 x 272, 3500 Maple Avenue, 17th Floor, Dallas, TX., 75219 or visit HeritageGalleries.com to order by credit card.