The Walking Liberty half dollar can be graded by paying special attention to Liberty's breasts on the obverse. Some collectors wish to focus on the eagle's feather development as their guide, but doing so exposes the grader to a larger area and one more susceptible to striking issues. The goal of the QuickGrade engine is to obtain a reasoned grade with as little effort as possible. Grading Liberty's breasts offers the easiest and most systematic method available. It does not come without a hiccup. As the reader will discover, this guide advises that for coins grading at the "good" level and under, one must use the date for grading instead of Liberty's breasts. For the various QuickGrade engines featured on this site, this is the only time a reader must diverge, even if just for two grade levels, from the primary grading component. For grades VG and up, the reader will find that making a grading determination analyzing the detail of Liberty's breasts is straightforward. This QuickGrade guide and the entire concept of grading by a single part of the design will not be 100% accurate, but it has proven to produce results that are usually correct.
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Walking Liberty half dollars at grades of "good" or lower do not show any breast detail on Liberty's right breast (the viewer's left). The QuickGrade guide must cheat a little bit. While the point is to grade a coin by a single design element, the breast detail cannot conclusively differentiate between coins grading "good" or those grading lower. If a collector has established that a coin is less than a VG, the focus moves to the date. Coins grading as a G will have a clear date with digits blending at the top and bottom, while coins grading "about good" or lower will either have a partial date missing most of the first two digits or a very weak full date with significant blending. In practice, no AG coin in the series is worth significantly less than its counterpart grading as a G.
Walking Liberty half dollars at grades of "good" or lower do not show any breast detail on Liberty's right breast (the viewer's left). The QuickGrade guide must cheat a little bit. While the point is to grade a coin by a single design element, the breast detail cannot conclusively differentiate between coins grading "good" or those grading lower. If a collector has established that a coin is less than a VG, the focus moves to the date. Coins grading as a G will have a clear date with digits blending at the top and bottom, while coins grading "about good" or lower will either have a partial date missing most of the first two digits or a very weak full date with significant blending. In practice, no AG coin in the series is worth significantly less than its counterpart grading as a G.
Coins in the "very good" range will show a curved, horizontal line outlining the bottom of Liberty's right breast. Ideally, this line is detailed to the center of the chest, but a coin may fall slightly shy of this requirement and still grade as a VG. The line exists where Liberty's gown would otherwise be smooth and flat on lower-graded coins; this is the salient point.
The characteristics of Walking Liberty halves grading as "fine" follow logically from those designated for VG coins. Liberty's left breast (on the viewer's right) still does not show any detail. Liberty's right breast builds upon the horizontal line required of VG coins, complementing it with a small vertical line. This line, which forms the inner edge of the right breast, is sometimes found with a "hook" at the top, which sometimes differentiates coins grading as low or high "fine."
Liberty's left breast comes into play at the "very fine" level. For any coin to grade VF, the lower outline of the left breast can range from a small line covering a bit of the outside to nearly complete detail extending along the bottom. The example coin resembles one grading closer to baseline VF. On any VF, the right breast should be boldly outlined, and the center of the chest should form a symbol resembling the Greek letter omega. The critical pick-up point for the collector is that a Walking Liberty half with left breast detail should grade at least VF. A coin in the F range will not have this detail.
Though it is not a rule in the absolute, the vast majority of Walking Liberty halves displaying full left breast detail will grade at least "extremely fine." As the example image shows, the line delineating the bottom outline of the left breast does not necessarily have to be bold, but it should be there in some capacity. Detail on XF coins will typically look well-formed to the naked eye, but under magnification, the left breast outline generally appears sloppy. One could say that if Liberty's breast detail is complete yet not bold, the coin is an XF.
Any Walking Liberty half dollar grading in the "about uncirculated" range will certainly be a very detailed example. Building upon the requirements for XF coins, which state that the breast detail must be complete, the collector now focuses on the area surrounding the breasts. The breast detail needs to be bold, of course, but some higher XF coins will exhibit this characteristic as well. What sets the AU coins apart is the development of the collar above the breasts and the gown lines below them. The example image shows consistent detail of the collar of Liberty's dress. This same area is well-worn on XF coins. Likewise, several small lines extend downward from the breasts in the AU example. Such detail is far weaker on XF coins. These additional details complement the bold breast lines.
Walking Liberty halves grading as "brilliant uncirculated" will not show any wear, so the few distractions found on AU coins will not hinder a BU coin. This difference between the two is more aptly assessed by considering the level of luster featured on the coin. AU coins, especially those at the upper end of the spectrum, will show some luster; however, the full cartwheel gleam of the BU coin is unmistakable. This dazzling display will be evident whether or not the large silver coin has obtained any patina.
