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The
Mercury Dime
Mercury Dimes For Sale
History of
the Mercury Dime
The year was 1915
and there was a movement afoot to change the remainder of American coinage.
With the changes to the $10 eagle, $20 double
eagle, the cent and nickel, it was now time for changes to the dime, quarter and
half dollar. Under 1890 law, changes could not be made to a coin design without
approval from congress more frequently than every 25 years. The Barber coinage
(dime, quarter and half dollar) was to reach that mark in 1916 and the mint
wasted no time in making the changes, in fact starting the process before 1916.
In 1915, US Mint
Director Robert W. Woolley offered the opportunity to three noted sculptors,
Adolph A Weinman, Albin Polasek and Herman A. MacNeil to prepare designs for
three silver coins. Outside artists, not chief engraver Charles Barber,
supplied designs for the previous six changes and Woolley felt this was a great
option. By 1916, Barber was 75 years old but had a track record of being
hostile to outside artists designing coins he thought he should be designing.
With three new designs, all replacing coins Barber himself had designed, it
could have gotten unpleasant. The records suggest Barber was on his best
behavior. In this case it seems he just stepped aside and let his assistant
George T. Morgan, who had designed the Morgan dollar, do all the work. Maybe
Barber finally just gave up or was too old too fight anymore or just recognized
the beauty in the designs. Barber died in February 1917 and was replaced by
Morgan.
It is assumed that
Woolley intended to award a different coin to each person. It may not have been
planned this way, but Weinman ended up getting two of his designs as the winning
designs. One being what would become known as the Walking Liberty Half and the
Mercury Dime. MacNeil won the design for the quarter with Polasek getting shut
out.
Adolph A. Weinman
was born in Germany and came to the US at the age of 10 in 1880. He was a
student of well known sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Saint-Gaudens is also
credited with some truly outstanding coin designs. By 1915 when the design
process began, Weinman was widely celebrated as one of the nation’s best
sculptors.
 
The design of the
Mercury dime is that of a “Winged Liberty” and is based on a bust that Weinman
did in 1913 of Elsie Kachel Stevens, wife of well-known poet Wallace Stevens,
who happened to be tenants of a New York City apartment building owned by
Weinman. The winged cap was to symbolize freedom of thought. The reverse of the
coin depicts the fasces, an ancient symbol of authority, with a battle-ax at the
top to represent preparedness and an olive branch beside it to signify love and
peace and authority.
Production and
release of the new dimes was delayed until later in the year of 1916 as the dies
were not quite ready. The Philadelphia and San Francisco mint produced Barber
dimes much of 1916 to meet demand while Denver ceased producing Barber dimes in
1914. Once the dies were complete, production began with both Philadelphia and
San Francisco cranking out millions of dimes. Denver though produced a mere
264,000 making the 1916-D an instant rarity.
Shortly after the
dime began circulating, many people began calling it a “Mercury dime” due to the
wings on the cap. Mercury is the Roman god of trade, property and wealth as
well as messenger to the other gods. The hat, called a Petasus, is similar to
that worn my messengers during the time when Mercury was worshipped. Mercury
gained his speed from his wings. Although not the original and intended name
for the new time, the term Mercury stuck and that is what it is known as today.
The Mercury dime
served Americans through two world wars ending its run in 1945. With the death
of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1945, there was a strong movement to honor the
president and in 1946 the Roosevelt dime began production and is still used
today.
Collectibility
General
The Mercury dime is a wonderful coin
for both experienced and beginning collectors and is the most popular collected
series in its denomination. A complete set including all keys can be had for
under $1500.00 but the keys will be in very bad condition. A nicer set with all
coins graded at least G4 including keys can cost upwards of $2000.00 or more.
If you want to establish a year collection, you can avoid the big cost of the
1916-D but you still will need to shell out $50 or more for a 1921 dated dime.
Both mints, P or D (San Francisco did not produce any) are considered keys. All
other dates should be easily obtained. Many people collect what is called a
short set consisting of all mints and years from 1934 to 1945 or 1941 to 1945.
A short set of BU specimens from 1941 is 1945 is quite attractive.
Taking the three keys (discussed in a
bit) out of the equation, all dates and mints can be had for under $10.00 in G4
condition with the majority of them under $3.00. Most coins after 1940 can be
had for under $1.00 in pretty decent grades. As with many coins of the times,
Philadelphia was the main producer of coins while Denver and San Francisco were
generally much lower than Philadelphia. For the entire series, Philadelphia
produced 65.9% of all dimes, Denver produced 17.8% of all dimes while San
Francisco produced 16.3%, clearly making mint marked dimes a little tougher to
get.
Production totals exceed 50 million
on 6 times prior to 1940 but never going over 67 million (1939). This totals
far exceeded production of the Barber dime but pail in comparison to the later
years of the Mercury dime. In 1941 production totals skyrocketed with
Philadelphia producing 175 million dimes. For the last four years of
production, totals never fell below 159 million. A total of 2.6 billion dimes
were produced with over half, 56% being produced during the last 5 years with
the last four coinciding with WWII. An amazing statistic considering the
Mercury dime was in production for 30 years. Of course many of those years were
during the depression where coin production was low for all denominations.
When grading Mercury dimes, the
grading criteria changes somewhat in Mint State coins. Coins what are fully
struck have what is called Full Split Bands (FSB). This is in reference to the
fasces where there are clear and fully defined horizontal bands with separation
between them. Mint State coins with this definition will command premiums over
their counterparts without this designation.
Key/Semi Key Dates
Clearly, from a non-variety perspective, the 1916-D is
the toughest and most expensive coin to obtain. Although not the rarest, is
perhaps the most famous dime in U.S history. Typically, first year issues are
heavily hoarded and collected by the public which typically preserves many
coins. Not so with the 1916-d as its rarity initially went unnoticed. With
millions of coins coming from Philadelphia and San Francisco, the public had not
noticed that very few had the Denver mint mark. This is easily determined by
the fact that so many 1916-D dimes are available in such low grades as so many
of them circulated for more than 30 years. Another clear example is the
stunning amount of 1916-D dimes discovered in the “New York Subway Hoard”. The
collectors of this hoard did not begin collecting until the 1940’s. More than
25 years after the release of the 1916-D yet 251 examples of this special coin
were in the hoard.
Coins in the lowest grade of FA2 or G3 will cost
upwards of $500.00 and the prices only go up from there. A VG8 is typically
priced at $1300.00. While this coin is indeed pricey, it is readily available
from many dealers.
The second key of the series is the 1921-D followed
closely by the 1921-P. Both of these coins had mintages of just over 1
million. Both of these coins will cost over $50 for a G/VG grade.
From here, the cost of individual coins drops
dramatically as the next semi-keys are 1926-S and 1931-D. Both of these can be
had for under $10.00 in low grades.
A note about low grades: While you can obtain these
rarities in low grades, eye appeal is NOT their strong point. Coins in AG-G
condition typically show the date/partial date and mint. It is generally tough
to make out details in the coins as they are well worn. I quote prices in G4 as
to give you an idea of what minimum prices are for keys and semi-keys. Prime
examples in the coins noted above can run into the 10’s of thousands of dollars.
While the 1945-P coin is readily available in all
grades, FSB specimens are extremely rare. Many common dates of the 1940’s have
dozens of coins graded in the MS-67 range while the 1945-P currently has only 3
certified PCGS coins.
Errors
Perhaps the best know error in the Mercury series is
the 1942/1 overdate. These were produced at both Denver and Philadelphia with
the Philadelphia variety having popularity near the 1916-D. In the lowest
grades these coins will cost over $500.00 and will be hard to distinguish the
error. It would be suggested to purchase these through a well known dealer
and/or buying only certified coins of this error.
The other well known variety occurred in 1945 and that
was a change in the size of the mint mark on San Francisco coins. Called “Micro
S”, many 1945 dated coins have a smaller “S” mint mark and sell for a slight
premium over regular “S” coins.
Proofs
Proof Mercury dimes are quite beautiful. They were
only produced for seven years, from 1936 to 1942. A complete set in PR-65
condition would cost around $5000.00
Vital Statistics
Summary
Key Coin Info
Designed by: Adolph A. Weinman
Issue dates: 1916-1945
Composition: 0.900 part silver, 0.100 part copper
Diameter: 17.9 mm
Weight: 38.58 grains
Edge: Reeded
Business strike mintage: 2,677,153,880
Proof mintage: 78,648
Mintage
Date Mint Pop
1916 P 22,180,080
1916 D 264,000
1916 S 10,450,000
1917 P 55,230,000
1917 D 9,402,000
1917 S 27,330,000
1918 P 26,680,000
1918 D 22,674,800
1918 S 19,300,000
1919 P 35,740,000
1919 D 9,939,000
1919 S 8,850,000
1920 P 59,030,000
1920 D 19,171,000
1920 S 13,820,000
1921 P 1,230,000
1921 D 1,080,000
1923 P 50,130,000
1923 S 6,440,000
1924 P 24,010,000
1924 D 6,810,000
1924 S 7,120,000
1925 P 25,610,000
1925 D 5,117,000
1925 S 5,850,000
1926 P 32,160,000
1926 D 6,828,000
1926 S 1,520,000
1927 P 28,080,000
1927 D 4,812,000
1927 S 4,770,000
1928 P 19,480,000
1928 D 4,161,000
1928 S 4,100,000
1929 P 25,970,000
1929 D 5,034,000
1929 S 4,730,000
1930 P 6,770,000
1930 S 1,843,000
1931 P 3,150,000
1931 D 1,260,000
1931 S 1,800,000
1934 P 24,080,000
1934 D 6,772,000
1935 P 58,830,000
1935 D 10,477,000
1935 S 15,840,000
1936 P 87,504,130
1936 D 16,132,000
1936 S 9,210,000
1937 P 56,865,756
1937 D 14,146,000
1937 S 9,740,000
1938 P 22,198,728
1938 D 5,537,000
1938 S 8,090,000
1939 P 67,749,321
1939 D 24,394,000
1939 S 10,540,000
1940 P 65,361,827
1940 D 21,198,000
1940 S 21,560,000
1941 P 175,106,557
1941 D 45,634,000
1941 S 43,090,000
1942 P 205,432,329
1942 D 60,740,000
1942 S 49,300,000
1943 P 191,710,000
1943 D 71,949,000
1943 S 60,400,000
1944 P 231,410,000
1944 D 62,224,000
1944 S 49,490,000
1945 P 159,130,000
1945 D 40,245,000
1945 S 41,920,000
Mercury Dime News
Updated : Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:20:32 GMT+00:00
Publ.Date : Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:03:47 GMT+00:00
Publ.Date : Sat, 07 Aug 2010 20:34:41 GMT+00:00
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The $500 million coinWashington Post (blog)I'd prefer Lady Liberty, the American eagle, or any of the various imaginative motifs that once graced coins like the "buffalo nickel," the "Mercury dime," ... |
Publ.Date : Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:28:22 GMT+00:00
Publ.Date : Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:16:16 GMT+00:00
Publ.Date : Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:16:35 GMT+00:00
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