1938-D Walking Liberty Half Dollar

Specifications

Denomination: 50c
Series: Walking Liberty half dollar (1916-1947)
Designer: Adolph A. Weinman
Years of issue: 1938
Composition: 90% Silver, 10% Copper
Weight: 12.5 g
Diameter: 30.6 mm
Edge: Reeded
Mint marks: D (Denver)
Mintage: 491600
Key mintages: 491,600 (PCGS; Heritage Auctions; GreatCollections; APMEX). Third-lowest business-strike mintage of the series.

Melt value: $23.31silver $64.40/ozt, copper $0.44/ozt · prices as of Sep 16, 2026

AI-generated illustration — not a photograph of a genuine coin.

491,600 struck — the third-lowest business-strike mintage of the series, heavily roll-hoarded by Depression-era collectors from day one.

History

Mintage 491,600 — the lowest of the 1930s and the third-rarest business strike by mintage, behind only the 1921 (246,000) and 1921-D (208,000) (PCGS; accessed 2026-09-16)
By the mid-1930s, date-and-mintmark collecting had taken off; collectors who could afford it saved rolls straight from the bank, knowing the 1938-D would be a low-mintage coin (PCGS; accessed 2026-09-16)
PCGS estimates approximately 30,000 survive — under 10% of the original mintage — a decent number thanks to that contemporary hoarding (PCGS; accessed 2026-09-16)
The rest entered circulation, and with the half dollar a workhorse coin in the 1930s, many were spent and worn heavily (PCGS; accessed 2026-09-16)

Mintage 491,600 — third-rarest by mintage among business strikes, behind the 1921 and 1921-D keys (PCGS; accessed 2026-09-16)
PCGS survival estimate ~30,000 (PCGS; accessed 2026-09-16)
PCGS Pop 123 in MS62 with 3,086 finer (APMEX/CoinGrade+ PCGS data; accessed 2026-09-16)

Certified populations: PCGS Pop 123 in MS62 with 3,086 finer (APMEX/CoinGrade+ PCGS data; accessed 2026-09-16)

Buy certified: added-D alterations are the standard threat on low-mintage Denver issues — verify the mintmark’s style and its placement on the reverse at lower left, under the tree (Wikipedia; accessed 2026-09-16)
Roll-hoarded from new, so Mint State examples are obtainable; the premium jumps at Gem with full satin luster (PCGS; Heritage Auctions; accessed 2026-09-16)
The issue is typically well-struck with splendid satin luster — collectors chase untoned, nearly pristine examples (Heritage Auctions; accessed 2026-09-16)