Undated 50C Walking Liberty Half -- Struck on a Steel Cent Planchet -- MS64 PCGS....

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$44,062.50 Bid Source: Internet bidder ‡ Note: The owner placed a late bid on this unreserved lot and repurchased it, subject to applicable commission.

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Walking Liberty Half Dollar, MS64
Struck on a Steel Cent Planchet
One of Two Known
#8 in 100 Greatest U.S. Coin Errors

Undated 50C Walking Liberty Half -- Struck on a Steel Cent Planchet -- MS64 PCGS. This lot is the plate coin for the lofty position of #8 in the 100 Greatest U.S. Coin Errors, published by Whitman in 2010. The author values the error between $75,000 and $100,000, and notes that only two Walking Liberty half dollars are known on cent planchets. Curiously, the other such piece, sold in 1981 as part of the Milt Cohen Collection, was also struck on a steel cent planchet. That coin is undated and struck 25% off-center toward 5 o'clock. Likely, many additional Walking Liberty halves were struck on cent planchets but never left the Mint, screened by riddlers (and subsequently destroyed) due to the much smaller diameter of a cent.

On the present coin, the mintmark and date are off the flan, but it was presumably struck in 1943 or 1944, since nearly all steel cents bear the former date and Belgium two franc pieces (also issued in zinc-plated steel) are dated 1944. The centering favors the motifs at the expense of the legends, though much of IN GOD WE TRUST is present, as is the US in PLURIBUS. The eagle and Liberty are present except for extremities. The luster is silky and both sides are void of abrasions, though minor dull gray specks are scattered. Photographed on page 203 of Mike Byers' World's Greatest Mint Errors. The highest ranked Walking Liberty half within the 100 Greatest U.S. Coin Errors, and one of the highlights of the Geyer Family Collection.
From The Geyer Family Collection.

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