Hobby gets first glimpse of gold Walking Liberty half

The dust is barely settled from the excitement over the U.S. Mint’s Sept. 8 release of the 2016-W Standing Liberty Centennial gold quarter dollar and another limited-edition is on the horizon to whet collector appetites – the 2016-W Walking Liberty Centennial gold half dollar.

Full video transcript:

Good morning. This is the Monday Morning Brief for September 19, 2016. I’m Coin World Senior Editor Paul Gilkes.

The dust has barely settled from the excitement over the U.S. Mint’s September 8 release of the 2016-W Standing Liberty Centennial gold quarter dollar than another limited edition is on the horizon to whet collectors’ appetites – the 2016-W Walking Liberty Centennial gold half dollar.

Coin World offered collectors the first glimpse of what a struck example of the coin looks like from the output at the West Point Mint that began September 9.

We still don’t know yet how many of the coins will ultimately be produced, when the coins will be offered for sale, and whether there will be household ordering limits.

Pricing for the coins will likely be announced the day before sales begin based on the guidelines established under the Mint’s pricing grid. The same grid was used to price the 2016-W Winged Liberty gold dime released April 21 and the gold Standing Liberty quarter dollar.

While the gold dime is a tenth-ounce of pure gold and the quarter dollar a quarter-ounce of pure gold, the Walking Liberty gold half dollar will be a half-ounce of pure gold.

The fineness and weight in gold, rendered as AU 24K 1/2 OZ., appears on the coin’s reverse, on the ledge below the eagle’s talon and above the denomination, HALF DOLLAR.

Collectors are speculating just how many of the gold half dollars the U.S. Mint plans to produce. I’ve heard several maximum mintage figures floating around.

Like the collecting public, I’ll just have to sit tight and wait until the Mint makes the announcement to see if my suspicions are confirmed.

For Coin World, I’m Paul Gilkes.

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