Collectors Corner^SM: The Collectibles Marketplace

The 1942 “Headless Walker” is one of the most coveted of all Walking Liberty Half Dollar error coins. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView. Click image to enlarge.

There are some pretty freaky error coins lurking around, but one of the most bizarre by far has to be a particularly crazy 1942 Walking Liberty Half Dollar that appears to have lost its head – literally! This Walking Liberty Half Dollar struck on a quarter planchet is considered by many in the error coin community to be among the most captivating of all wrong-planchet errors.

Weighing in at 6.22 grams, this planchet was aligned with the the Walking Liberty dies in just such a way that the resultant error was a coin on which Miss Liberty’s head is completely missing just above the shoulders. The creep factor multiplies further upon realizing that Miss Liberty’s outstretched arm is also sans a hand. The reverse reveals an eagle whose feathers appear to be sheared clear across the bird’s left wing.

The date on this coin is full and complete, revealing it to unmistakably be a 1942 emission. However, the area of the coin where one would ordinarily find a mintmark is absent, which means this could be a product of the Philadelphia, Denver, or San Francisco Mints, all having produced half dollars in 1942. Looking beyond the glaring error at hand, this coin is a remarkably well-struck example of a 1942 Walking Liberty Half Dollar, and it graded MS62 by PCGS. The satiny smooth surfaces yield hues of grayish gold to russet, and the surfaces are quite pleasing to even the most discerning eyes.

This amazing 1942 Walking Liberty Half Dollar error once belonged to the esteemed collection of American politician and historian John Whitney Walter. When the coin was offered in 2018 by Stack’s Bowers Galleries, they remarked that numismatic researcher Saul Teichman noted “only about 14 different examples” of Walking Liberty Half Dollars struck on quarter planchets were known. The headless Walker, as we’ve informally addressed it here, sold for a mind-blowing $16,200 during its 2018 Stack’s Bowers Galleries offering.