Owner Comments:
The 1921 has the second lowest mintage in the entire Walking Liberty series at 246,000. So, because of this, it has absolute rarity, as so few were minted. Also, it has condition rarity, as they simply were not saved and there are very few survivors, despite being a relatively well-produced issue. In other words, it has FOUNDATIONAL rarity, which means it has both absolute AND condition rarity. This issue had the best strike out of all three coins that were produced in 1921. Finding ANY early Walker with nice luster is very difficult but finding a lustrous, early, key-date is exponentially harder. Although not usually heavily abraded; moderate abrasions almost always limit MS examples to 63 or 64. TRUE GEMS ARE SCARCE.
Oh, how I looked for this coin! When the Ozark collection went up for sale, in the Summer of 2019, which had been started on the NGC registry in 2006 and is currently ranked #5; I just saw an opportunity and had to act. Before that, the coin was part of the Calvin collection, which went up for sale in 2009, when it was acquired by the Ozark collector. Not sure when the Calvin Collection was started. It is in an old NGC #7 holder. I have had sooo much luck with that style of slab....finding many a quality gem coin in them.
Only 31 graded MS 65 at NGC with just 2 finer MS 66 examples and no 65+ coins. At PCGS, there are 57 in MS 65 and 7 in MS 65+ with just 4 finer in MS 66. No 67s exist from either service. Census and Population numbers are certainly inflated due to resubmissions.
Strike on this particular example is well above average. The luster is booming with good flow lines and prominent luster bands and the surfaces are smooth and unabraded. The telltale right facing field is quite clear. The piece has an original silver-gray tone to it with tinges of sea-foam green.