1942 Walking Liberty Half Dollar Proof
Proof struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 21,120 made
- Mintage
- 21,120
- Metal
- 90% silver, 10% copper
- Weight
- 12.5 g
- Diameter
- 30.6 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1942 Walking Liberty Half Dollar Proof worth?
Collectors pay a real premium for this date, worn or not, because far fewer were made than usual. Uncirculated pieces go much higher.
What would make yours worth more:
- Grade and, for proofs, strong cameo contrast
- A die variety or minting error
- Certification by PCGS or NGC, which buyers expect for scarce dates
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1942 Walking Liberty Half Dollar Proof rare?
- Fairly. The Mint made 21,120 for collectors. Most were kept in their original packaging.
- Is the 1942 Walking Liberty Half Dollar Proof silver?
- Yes. It's 90% silver, 10% copper and holds 0.3617 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1942 Walking Liberty Half Dollar?
- On the reverse, at the lower left near the rim, below the pine branch. No mint mark means Philadelphia.
- How many 1942 Walking Liberty Half Dollar proofs were made?
- 21,120.
What to check on your 1942
- There's no mint mark on this one, so the date and condition are what matter.
- Judge the grade under good light. Check Liberty's left hand, the skirt lines over her leg and the eagle's breast. Fully struck hands and heads are unusual.
Proofs from 1942 were struck one at a time in small numbers and many were later spent or mishandled. Look for hairlines from cleaning, which lower the grade.
The story of the 1942
The short set of wartime halves (1941 to 1947)
Wartime demand pushed Philadelphia mintages to 47.8 million in 1942 and 53.2 million in 1943. Denver and San Francisco each struck around 8 to 13 million a year during the war. Because coins from 1941 to 1947 are common in high grades, many collectors assemble them as a short set rather than chasing the full series.
Some 1941 proofs lack Weinman's AW monogram because the die was polished too heavily. The 1946 doubled die reverse shows strong doubling in E PLURIBUS UNUM and in the eagle's feathers. Proofs ended after 1942. Production fell to about 4 million each at Philadelphia and Denver in 1947, the last year before the Franklin half. San Francisco made no halves that year. Silver remained at 90 percent throughout.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1942
Nickel was needed for the war, so from October 1942 the five-cent coin was struck in an alloy of copper, silver and manganese. These war nickels carry a large mint mark above Monticello, the first use of a "P" mint mark.
How to recognize it
Adolph Weinman's design shows Liberty draped in the flag, striding toward the rising sun with branches of laurel and oak in her arm. The reverse shows an eagle perched on a rocky crag with a pine sapling growing beside it. On 1916 and some 1917 coins the mint mark is on the obverse below IN GOD WE TRUST; after that it is on the reverse at the lower left, near the rim.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Walking Liberty Half Dollar (1916–1947) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Proof |
| Mintage | 21,120 |
| Face value | 50¢ |
| Composition | 90% silver, 10% copper |
| Weight | 12.5 grams |
| Diameter | 30.6 mm |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Silver content | 0.3617 troy oz (11.250 g) |
| Designer | Adolph A. Weinman |
Other 1942 Walking Liberty Half Dollar issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 Walking Liberty Half Dollar | 47,818,000 | Circulation strike | 0.3617 oz |
| 1942 Walking Liberty Half Dollar Proof | 21,120 | Proof | 0.3617 oz |
| 1942-D Walking Liberty Half Dollar | 10,973,800 | Circulation strike | 0.3617 oz |
| 1942-S Walking Liberty Half Dollar | 12,708,000 | Circulation strike | 0.3617 oz |
Mintage: United States half dollar mintage figures (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from US Mint records and the Guide Book of United States Coins. How we build these pages.