U.S. Mint Releases 1916 Walking Liberty Half Dollar Gold Coin and Silver Medal Set
The United States Mint has released a new collectible set pairing a 24-karat gold interpretation of the 1916 Walking Liberty Half Dollar with a one-ounce silver companion medal.
The set is the third release in the U.S. Mint’s Best of the Mint series, which celebrates historic American coin designs as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary. The Mint selected five historic coins for the program following public input and expert recommendations.
The five designs are the 1916 Mercury Dime, 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter Dollar, 1916 Walking Liberty Half Dollar, 1804 Silver Dollar and 1907 Saint-Gaudens High Relief $20 Gold Coin.
Walking Liberty Design Struck in 24-Karat Gold
The gold coin contains one-half ounce of 24-karat fine gold and recreates the design of the 1916 Walking Liberty Half Dollar. The obverse features Liberty walking toward the sunrise with the American flag flowing behind her. She carries branches of laurel and oak in her left arm.
The inscriptions include “LIBERTY,” “IN GOD WE TRUST” and “1916.” A special Liberty Bell privy mark containing the number “250” has also been added to commemorate the 250th anniversary of American independence.
The reverse depicts an eagle facing left with its wings raised while standing on a mountaintop perch. A pine sapling grows from a break in the rock. The reverse inscriptions are “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” “E PLURIBUS UNUM” and “HALF DOLLAR.”
Silver Medal Reimagines the Classic Design
The companion medal contains one ounce of 99.9% fine silver. Rather than simply duplicating the original half dollar, the medal reinterprets elements from the Walking Liberty design as a continuous scene stretching across its obverse and reverse.
The Mint said the artwork uses an Art Deco style that followed the neoclassical approach of original Walking Liberty Half Dollar designer Adolph A. Weinman.
Liberty appears on the obverse extending her right hand while carrying branches in her left. The landscape and Sun continue across to the reverse, where an eagle is shown in flight. The medal carries the inscriptions “LIBERTY” and “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”
Part of the Mint’s 250th Anniversary Program
The Best of the Mint series was created as part of the U.S. Mint’s celebration of the Semiquincentennial. The program looks back across more than two centuries of American coinage, beginning with the establishment of the Mint in 1792.
The Walking Liberty set follows other releases in the five-design series and combines a historic coin design with a newly created companion medal. Pricing for the set is determined under the U.S. Mint’s pricing range table for gold coins.
The Walking Liberty set is currently listed at $2,775 with a mintage limit of 30,000.