1917-S Reverse Mintmark

San Francisco's later 1917 Walking Liberty production resumed under the new mintmark layout after Mint Director F.H. von Engelken's February 14, 1917 order moved the identifier from obverse to reverse. The 1917-S Reverse Mintmark variety totaled 5,554,000 coins, by far the largest of the four 1917 mintmark configurations and a figure that reflects the pace San Francisco achieved once the reverse-mintmark dies were in steady rotation. The S now sat near the eagle's tail on the lower-left rock, the placement that would carry through every San Francisco Walker until production ended in 1947. Adolph A. Weinman's obverse design continued unchanged with Liberty striding toward sunrise and laurel and oak branches in her left hand, and the variety is the first San Francisco issue to wear the design's mature configuration.

Strike quality remains a defining concern for the 1917-S Reverse Mintmark, with Liberty's left hand and the skirt thumb chronically weak on the obverse and eagle's breast feathers and central talon often soft on the reverse where the new mintmark sits embedded in the rock detail. Authentication begins with the 12.50 gram weight and 30.61 mm diameter, then moves to mintmark position; a genuine S sits to the lower left of the eagle, integrated with the rock contour rather than floating in clear field. Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) and Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC) holders for this variety frequently note strike quality on the label, and Full Strike examples command meaningful premiums at every Mint State level. Reeded edge inspection helps rule out tampering on coins offered at unusually low prices, since the broader survivorship makes counterfeit pressure lighter here than on the obverse-mintmark variety.

Populations are deep through AU because the higher mintage left more survivors, then narrow at MS64 and become genuinely scarce at MS65, with MS66 Full Strike Gems exceptional and exceptional auction results following. The variety pairs naturally with the 1917-S Obverse Mintmark and the 1917-D Reverse Mintmark for any collector documenting the policy shift, and the four 1917 mintmark configurations together form one of the most instructive subsets in twentieth-century American silver. The full transition story and the Weinman design's broader history are detailed in the Walking Liberty Half Dollar series history.