Despite its tiny amount, the "Mercury" dime may very well be the most exquisite coin ever created by the United States Mint. It is extremely remarkable that a coin this small could have such an elaborate and aesthetically lovely target.
One thing its objective does not describe, however, is Mercury, the courier of the gods in Roman mythology. The study on its facade is actually that of Liberty irksome a winged cap symbolizing abandon of thought. Thus, the coin more correctly is known as the Winged Head Liberty dime. Nevertheless the misnomer "Mercury" was applied to it early on and, after the existence of communal custom, has stuck.
Whatever it's called, this dime represented an embrace change of tempo when it made its first appearance in 1916. Indeed, it implied more than excellent of thought: it also was an image of America's new character, exuberance reflected in the novelty and vitality of the new U.S. penny as a total in the early 1900s. The coin it replaced, the starchy Barber dime, was rooted in the 19th century, a time when American life was more rigid and prim. In an artistic sense this new coin was a breath of cool air, even however its inspiration went all the way back to the primeval Greeks and Romans.
Clearly, the Mint and Treasury supposed it time for a change. Under an 1890 law, they couldn't restore a coin motif more frequently than every 25 existence. The Barber dime, lodge and half money, first produced in 1892, reached the part-century smear in 1916, and the Mint wasted no time in replacing all three. Actually, his misinterpretation of the 1890 law led Mint Director Robert W. Woolley to judge that he must reinstate the presented designs when they reached 25 being of production.
The Mint began laying the groundwork in the last days of 1915, when it set the rostrum for an unusual competition to gain new designs for the coins. Director Woolley invited three imminent sculptors-Hermon A. MacNeil, Albin Polasek and Adolph A. Weinman, all New York City-to make designs for the three silver coins, evidently to awarding a different coin to each artiste.
Whatever the Mint's intention may have been, Weinman broken up receiving two of the three coins-the dime and half cash-with MacNeil getting the lodge dough and Polasek being shut out. Nevertheless few would quibble with the selections, for all three of the new coins-the Mercury dime, the Standing Liberty house money and the Walking Liberty half dough-inevitably happen on most collectors' lists of the finest U.S. coins ever made.
The German-natural Weinman had come to the United States in 1880 at the age of 10 and had willful under the infamous Augustus Saint-Gaudens. By 1915 he had gained a reputation as one of the populace's leading babyish sculptors. Weinman solidified this permanent with his artwork for the dime.
Its generally thought that the Winged Liberty portrait is based on a bust that Weinman did in 1913 of Elsie Kachel Stevens, wife of well-known versifier Wallace Stevens. She and her husband were tenants at the time in a New York City residence house owned by the sculptor. The transpose of the coin depicts the fasces, an ancient figure of persuade, with a crusade-ax atop it to epitomize preparedness and a lime separate beside it to denote the covet for harmony. With World War I powerful in Europe, these were emotional themes in 1916.
Release of the very first Mercury dimes was delayed pending recent in the year, as the dies were not yet swift. Coins of the old Barber point were hurriedly coined to gather the demand. The Denver Minted made only 264,000 examples of the new dimes, and 1916-D has been the great key of the chain ever since-the only coin with a mintage below one million. The mintmark appears on the inverse, below and left of the fasces. Other scarce coins enter 1921, 1921-D and the 1942/1 overdates from both Philadelphia and Denver. Brilliant proofs were made from 1936 through 1942, and there exists at slightest one 1916 dull resilient.
Collectors with a weakness for perfection entreat Mercury dimes with "filled split bands," completely obvious ranks in the bands around the fasces. For most dates these order significantly elevated premiums than coins lacking such describe. Lack of filled bands doesn't mean a coin mint-position; often, it plainly denotes a weak punch. The bands do wait as a checkpoint for corrosion, however, since they're so high and exposed. Other spots to confirm are Liberty's coat and the area in front of her ear.
For most of the string, production at the fork mints in Denver and San Francisco was minus than ten million pieces a year. Outputs were advanced at the focal mint in Philadelphia but exceeded 100 million only five epoch. Large facts of Mercury dimes subsist in grades up to Mint State-65, and they're quickly untaken even in MS-66 and 67, at least for the later dates. This, joint with their beauty, makes them very promotable. Facing 77 time-and-mint combinations, not counting the overdates, many collectors pleased themselves with just a distinct lettering coin. Others assemble "sharply sets" from 1934 through 1945 or 1941 through `45.
The Mercury dime served Americans well during one of this land's most violent eras. Born on the eve of our nation's note into World War I, it remained a central part of America's money place right through the end of World War II, bowing out in 1945. Along the way, it took pivot theater during the Great Depression as the claim coin in the down-and-outers' anthem, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" The desire of Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross to switch the Mercury dime with portraying Benjamin Franklin in 1938 was delayed awaiting after the war, Franklin eventually finding a home on the half buck ten being later.
In 1946, following the casualty of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a new devise with a portrait of the former President was issued. It was proper that this denomination was chosen to perpetuate his recall, as during his lifetime he was a significant influence in the March of Dimes battle against polio.
Even in its finishing years, this was a coin with authentic buying right. Armed with a Mercury dime, youngsters in the1940s had their choice of a 52-page comic book, a double-dip ice cream funnel, two Hershey bars or two bottles of Coca-Cola. Remaining in circulation right awaiting the end of silver coinage, Mercury dimes were a known glimpse as behind as the 1960s.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Diameter: 17.9 millimeters Weight: 2.50 grams Composition: .900 silver.100 copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: .07234 degree unmixed silver
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Lange, David W. The Complete Guide to Mercury Dimes, DLRC Press, Virginia Beach, VA, 1993. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing Co., New York, 1966. Vermeule, Cornelius, Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971. Yeoman, R.S., A Guide Book of United States Coins, 47th Edition. Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1993.
Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.
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