Walking Liberty Halves - Liberty's Left Hand

"Larry Louks" wrote
I'm finding that I am admiring this great old half more and more. ... the left
hand. Does she have it tucked into a pocket? Into a fold on her skirt?

I wrote a cover story about the Walker for the NUMISMATIST a few years
back. In my humble opinion, this coin is evidence for the Mint's
opinion that outsiders should not design coins. There is not enough
metal to fill the die. The hand is just about at the center of the
coin. The center of the eagle is just about exactly behind it on the
other side. You may never see a full hand, even in the highest
grades. It looks like an alien apendage or a tentacle. The new image
found on the Silver Eagles has this problem solved and the newly
walking Miss Liberty now shows at least as many fingers as Mickey
Mouse.

Someday, there may be a "full hand" Walker as we now accept Full Head
Standing Liberty Quarters and Five Step Jefferson Nickels. For now,
it is a design defect that we all agree to overlook while generally
admiring what is admittedly a really nice copy of the French "Semeuse"
coinage of Oscar Roty. For being a replicated image, the American
walking woman is, indeed, more American in her proportions (height,
etc.) and Roty's walking woman is perhaps "blockier" though not as
stocky as the one on Turkish coins. It all depends on relatively
minor cultural differences in what we find attractive. It is a classic
design. You can find walking goddesses very similar to this one on
Greek and Roman coins.

The Walking Liberty Half is a nice coin. When it was introduced, it
took some criticisms from the numismatic community, but today it is
very much a mainstream collectible. The Walker is one of the last of
the 19th and 20th century US Type that most American collectors choose
to pursue, and with good reason.

High Plains Writer wrote:

I wrote a cover story about the Walker for the NUMISMATIST a few years
back.

Is that article available online anywhere? I would love to read it and get
the benefit of your study!


It looks like an alien apendage or a tentacle.

Yessir, that is precisely what I thought when I tried to see the hand using
magnification.


The new image found on the Silver Eagles has this problem solved and the
newly walking Miss Liberty now shows at least as many fingers as Mickey
Mouse.

I purchased a Silver Eagle a few days ago and see that this is indeed the
case.

-=LDL

From: "Larry Louks"

I'm finding that I am admiring the Walking Liberty Halves more and more
Know what you mean. What a "Cleaveland"!

I don't yet have any really good specimens of it
Pity.

I am wondering about the left hand. Does she have it tucked into a pocket?
Into a fold on her skirt?
Looks to me like she has a thin shawl wrapped around it ...
Let's do a re-creation (or 'recreation') experiment - get Christa, Anka, or
someone, to dress up like that, take snapshots of all possibilities, and then
post a link to the picks; we can then vote on the most likely answer.

Ya Think?
8-0

Coin Saver

"Larry Louks" wrote
Is that article available online anywhere? I would love to read it and get
the benefit of your study!

You just put a burr under my saddle, partner. It always irritates me
the way that collectors (and dealers, too, but collectors, mostly)
want something really valuable for nothing. You want to benefit from
the article, but you want to find it free online. I had to create the
article. The publisher invested money paying me for the work.
Yesterday, we had a carpenter come in and replace some flooring and he
charged $25 an hour plus expenses and we were happy to pay it. He was
the president of a local builder's association. Suppose I had met him
at a convention and said, "I would love to get the benefit of your
work without paying for it."

As it so happens, I have, indeeded contributed perhaps more than any
other numismatic writer to the content of collector and dealer
websites. The dealers pay me, but the work has always been free to
collector sites. Nominally, I do not get paid to write for The
Celator, though the subscription is, indeed, the payment. My pro bono
work for the hobby is significant.

The frosting on the cake is that you do not even want to LOOK for it,
use a search engine, surf some coin sites. You want me to deliver it
to you on a silver platter.

Now, please, I know this has been negative, and you are probably
flipping me off in your mind right now, but step back. This is not
so much about "you" as it is about "collectors."

We have a hobby that encourages -- heck, DEPENDS ON-- this attitude,
because we all want to look at our pocket change and find a cent worth
$10,000. Haggling and bargaining are part of the culture as well and
if you can get the best price (something for nothing), then more power
to you! And I agree, 100%. What makes me buck up and kick is that if
you want this old horse (and the herd of other writers) to carry you
by providing knowledge, you have to give us a bag of oats, or at least
let us loose in a pasture. In other words, you have to be invested
somehow, put some work into it yourself. (You already said "thanks"
and that is a carrot.)

There are about six or eight other writers who frequent the newsgroup.
Some are collectors who write. Some are researchers who collect. If
not for us, the bobby would consist of 100,000 people rediscovering
the same facts every day and perhaps sharing them vis-a-vis twice a
year. A perfect example of this is the topic, "Liberty's Left Hand."

(High Plains Writer) adds.....

As it so happens, I have, indeeded contributed perhaps more than any
other numismatic writer to the content of collector and dealer websites.

Maybe, but you still can't get that Alexander thing right..........8^)

The frosting on the cake is that you do not even want to LOOK for it, use a
search engine, surf some coin sites. You want me to deliver it to you on a
silver platter.

Any different from 8.267 out of 10 inquiries we get here from first time
posters? "Can anyone tell me if boiled Eskimo sputem is OK for dipping my 1998
SAE?" Or the ever so wingnutted, "I barely found this place, so just e-mail me
the answer".

This is not so much about "you" as it is about "collectors."

Make that........"ignoramuses".

We have a hobby that encourages -- heck, DEPENDS ON-- this attitude, because
we all want to look at our pocket change and find a cent worth $10,000.

Only those falling under umbrella classification of above.....

If not for us, the bobby would consist of 100,000 people rediscovering the
same facts every day

Why limit this to British cops? I don't like that. It's not International
enough.......bwahahaha.

Always here for my fellow syngraphist or oenophile.
--=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=--

Jim wrote:


Why limit this to British cops? I don't like that. It's not International
enough.......bwahahaha.


Madness apparently knows no borders, ....but maybe its something to do
with funny hats?

"Larry Louks" wrote in message
news:1CSXa.71631$uu5.7642@sccrnsc04...
High Plains Writer wrote:

You just put a burr under my saddle, partner. It always irritates me the
way that collectors (and dealers, too, but collectors, mostly) want
something really valuable for nothing.

Not knowing anything about you, your esteem, your position in the
numismatic
society, the magazine article in question, or many other things that could
enter the picture, I guess I made a bad choice in asking if the
information
is available online. My apologies. You needn't worry about me ever asking
you about anything else.

-=LDL

Shake it off, Larry. I think Michael just wants you to drop a quarter in
that slot on your monitor. Good for only 30 seconds, though. Bill

(High Plains Writer) wrote in message . com...

...You want to benefit from
the article, but you want to find it free online. I had to create the
article. The publisher invested money paying me for the work.

Geeze, Mike. He was just asking a simple question, and very politely,
I might add. Why be so incredibly insensitive and rude? You've already
been paid for your work, so what's your problem? Didn't get enough
sleep last night? Might want to switch to Sanka brand.

Yesterday, we had a carpenter come in and replace some flooring and he
charged $25 an hour plus expenses and we were happy to pay it. He was
the president of a local builder's association. Suppose I had met him
at a convention and said, "I would love to get the benefit of your
work without paying for it."

Oh, come on! That's not even CLOSE to the same thing. In your example,
the carpenter was to be paid by you. That was the agreement. In your
message. you stated that you had already been paid.

Jumping all over someone like you did, without even letting them know
the "rules" is just rude, childish, and uncalled for. You were the one
that originally referred to the article. How is anybody supposed to
tell from your message that they have to pay you for the info?

To take your pathetic example further, that's like having made the
agreed upon payment to your carpenter who then asks for more money.

You, sir, are a greedy old codger, and you are so bitter that you have
to take it out on somebody who is genuinely trying to learn something.

Cliff replies....

Happy now that you have probably scared off a newer poster from ever posting
again.

The newer poster is somewhere going on 60 or so, if memory serves me right, so
if he hasn't figured out how to take a little heat by now, boo hoo, too bad,
don'tcha think?

you got the knowledge the hardway and by gosh no one else is going to get it
the easy way and you plan to make sure it stays that way.

Silly simpleton statement. Without even going into the merits of educating
yourself vs. having things handed to you, why don't you ask yourself about the
last time you ever saw anyone post here like this:

"Tried to find the answer to this in Google, internet, etc., but found the
answers confusing, etc.. Can anyone here help me out?"

Yes.......it happens this way "maybe" once for every 30-50 questions that land
here, but hey now. What's so wrong about "you" (the poster) doing a little leg
work?

The people who freely contribute and give answers do more for the
hobby in one day than 100 scholarly articles can do in a lifetime.

May be a true statment, but as so often is the case, doesn't belong in this
discussion.. Anyone who has been here for any length of time knows MEM does
more than his share of proactive posting and reactive responding.

Now, I'm going to go and see if I can lay down and get up on the other
side of my bed this morning.

I hope "that" was more successful.

Always here for my fellow syngraphist or oenophile.
--=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=--

Jim wrote:

The newer poster is somewhere going on 60 or so, if memory serves me
right, so if he hasn't figured out how to take a little heat by now, boo
hoo, too bad, don'tcha think?

Yessir, I'll soon hit the big Six-Oh, which means that I've been around the
block a few times. As to taking the heat, shucks, no problem at all. Given
that there are multitudes of magazine articles on countless subjects that
someone has written, where that someone has been paid in full for their
services, and which are now available online in various archives at no cost,
I saw nothing amiss in asking if that was the case with the article that the
gentleman mentioned. I just happened to ask someone who did not take kindly
to my question and who doesn't want me to find the information easily.

-=LDL