1946-S 50C MS66 Certification #43144291, PCGS #6629

20261002-1 The 1946-S Walking Liberty Half Dollar was struck at the San Francisco Mint with a mintage of 3,724,000 pieces, the mint's penultimate half dollar of the design. Adolph A. Weinman's design shows Liberty striding toward the sunrise draped in the American flag, with a bald eagle perched on a mountain crag beside a sapling of mountain pine on the reverse. The coin weighs 12.5 grams in 90% silver and 10% copper, measures 30.6 mm and contains 0.36169 troy oz of silver. Output at San Francisco fell by roughly two-thirds from the 1945 level as the Pacific wartime demand for coin disappeared. Post-war San Francisco Walkers are markedly better struck than their war-date predecessors, and the 1946-S is one of the dates where a fully detailed head is the norm rather than the exception. That, combined with a mintage under four million and active roll saving at the time, makes MS-66 attainable and gives the date a following among registry collectors working the S-mint column. At that grade expect essentially mark-free surfaces with lustre rolling uninterrupted across the fields, and treat any softness at the head as a reason to keep looking rather than a characteristic to accept.

David Hall

The 1946-S is the most common San Francisco Mint Walking Liberty Half Dollar. Obviously, a significany quantity of uncirculated rolls was saved in the year of issue. The typical specimen is relatively well struck. There are many frosty Gems available.