Best of Mint third image set features Walking Liberty

The Uncirculated 1916-W Walking Liberty gold half dollar will be the third of five Best of the Mint coins to be released by the United States Mint in 2026.

Images courtesy of the U.S. Mint.

The United States Mint has released images for a 1916-W Walking Liberty .9999 fine gold half dollar and companion .999 fine silver medal — the third of five such pairings to comprise the 2026 Best of the Mint Numismatic Series being issued in 2026 in celebration of the Mint’s role in assisting the nation to reach its 250th anniversary.

German-born American sculptor Adolph A. Weinman’s powerful design shows Lady Liberty striding toward the rising sun, draped in a billowing American flag, just as on the 1916 silver half dollar.

On the reverse, a fierce-looking eagle stands on a rocky mountain crag.

Like the Winged Liberty head dime, these silver half dollars were workhorses of American business through the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, two global wars, and beyond.

Struck on a half-ounce .9999 fine gold planchet, the 2026 reissue will be offered paired with a companion silver medal. The silver medal features designs reimagining elements from the Walking Liberty half dollar as a single scene across the obverse and reverse, in the art deco style that succeeded Adolph Weinman’s neoclassical style.

The gold half dollar and silver medal are to be struck with an Uncirculated finish. U.S. Mint officials have not yet announced the mintages for either the gold coin or the silver medal.

The W Mint mark of the West Point Mint where the gold half dollar is to be produced appears on the obverse in the field below IN GOD WE TRUST.

The U.S. Mint issued a gold Walking Liberty half dollar in 2016, with the date 2016, to recognize the centennial anniversary of the 1916 introduction of the Walking Liberty .900 fine silver half dollar.

The silver companion medal for the 2026 release is to be struck at the Philadelphia Mint, but without the facility’s P Mint mark.

The obverse of the silver companion medal for 2026 was designed by U.S. Mint Artistic Infusion Program designer Andrew Sides and sculpted by U.S. Mint Medallic Artist Renata Gordon. Sides’ reverse design was sculpted by U.S. Mint Medallic artist Eric Custer.

A Liberty Bell privy mark with the digits 250 incused vertically appears on the coin’s obverse above the motto. In the right field on the obverse is a monogram of the intertwined designer’s initials AW for sculptor Adolph A. Weinman; while this could be mistaken for a W Mint mark, it is not.

The Mint is releasing the one-year only Best of the Mint coin collection that reflects the rich numismatic history of the United States Mint; additionally, the Mint will be also releasing new celebratory designs on circulating coins in 2026.

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