1946 Walking Liberty Half Dollar
Circulation strike struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 12,118,000 made
- Mintage
- 12,118,000
- 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 1946 Walking Liberty Half Dollar worth?
In worn condition it trades for about its silver content, 0.3617 troy ounces. Uncirculated coins with full luster or attractive toning sell for more.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- A die variety or minting error
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1946 Walking Liberty Half Dollar rare?
- No. With 12 million made, it's one of the most common Walking Liberty Half Dollars.
- Is the 1946 Walking Liberty Half Dollar silver?
- Yes. It's 90% silver, 10% copper and holds 0.3617 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1946 Walking Liberty Half Dollar?
- On the reverse, at the lower left near the rim, below the pine branch. No mint mark means Philadelphia.
- Which Philadelphia dates near 1946 are scarcer?
- The 1947 at 4,094,000. So the 1946 is on the scarcer side for those years.
- How many 1946 Walking Liberty Half Dollar coins were made?
- 12,118,000.
What to check on your 1946
- There's no mint mark on this one, so the date and condition are what matter.
- Don't clean it. Cleaning leaves fine scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors avoid.
- 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.
Circulated examples are usually traded for their silver content. Pick out the best ones: original luster and attractive toning lift a coin above melt, while cleaned coins lose most of their collector value. A full strike shows Liberty's left hand and the lines of her skirt clearly. Many dates, especially from branch mints, come weakly struck in those areas.
The story of the 1946
Output at Philadelphia slipped to 12,118,000 in 1946, from 32 million the year before. In 1947 the figure was 4.1 million.
It was the big producer of the year, well ahead of 1946-D (2.2 million) and 1946-S (3.7 million).
Across Philadelphia's 20 Walking Liberty Half Dollar issues, the hardest to find is the 1921 with 246,000 made. The 1946 is one of the easier ones. Within the 1940s it's 15th smallest of 22, between the 1943-D (11 million) and the 1942-S (13 million).
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 1946
The Roosevelt dime was introduced in January 1946, less than a year after President Franklin Roosevelt's death, honoring his work with the March of Dimes.
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 | 1946 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 12,118,000 |
| 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 1946 Walking Liberty Half Dollar issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 Walking Liberty Half Dollar | 12,118,000 | Circulation strike | 0.3617 oz |
| 1946-D Walking Liberty Half Dollar | 2,151,000 | Circulation strike | 0.3617 oz |
| 1946-S Walking Liberty Half Dollar | 3,724,000 | 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.