Mercury Dimes

Let's start a long lasting thread on Mercury Dimes!! Share thoughts about the coin and thoughts on your collection. So I hope to see a great turnout
for this new thread. Good luck! I especially love to hear about The 1916D and all the other key dates. - coincrazed

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Well, since you asked...

Since you asked, and to facilitate discussion, I will gladly abide by your request! Thoughts on the coin, you asked? It has to simply be one of the greatest coins in all American history. (Yeah, that will stir debate...) The coin looks absolutely great in uncirculated conditions. It has so much detail on both sides, which is rare for an American coin, that prestine designs provide an almost flawless and awe-inspiring appreciation of Weinman's art.

And let us not forget my absolutely favorite topic of coin collecting....symbolism. Yes, I even think symbolism is more important than how to grade the coin or even the history behind it. Taking the obverse, I think the winged cap says it all! Liberty has been shown with many accessories through American coinage, (torches, drapes, crowns, etc.) each representing a different aspect of America's liberties, but it wasn't until Liberty's winged cap that I truly associated freedom of thought with the concept of one of our most sacred liberties. Then, if you look at Liberty herself on the coin, I must say those eyes can almost bore into the collector's soul. Granted, it's not the most feminine portrait of Lady Liberty, but it has to be one of the most memorable.

And what of the reverse? You have a fasce and a battle ax, symbolizing strength through national unity but readiness to defend our freedoms. And want better representation of peace than the olive branch? That coin has every aspect that a nation should be on the tiniest reverse! Unity, Peace, Defense! I dare collectors/readers out there to find me a more complex symbollically able reverse in American coinage.

So, thoughts on my collection? I love my collection. It was the second set I completed. I had an initial standard for compiling a collection of VF-XF. However, as I got into the later dates I upgraded to Unc. Then, naturally I kept upgrading until almost all of my 30's and onward are AU or greater. Eventually I bored of upgrading and went on to other projects (modern small dollars and Franklins.) Granted, this makes the set look a little unbalanced, but it's mine and I love it, especially those dimes that have seen some history that are in the VF-XF range. I will post some tomorrow afternoon sometime.

Finally, 1916 D. Over-rated. Yes, I understand it's the key. But, to young novice collectors like myself it will continue to remain an intangible hole in my album, along with the 1942/1 P and D. No sense in paying outrageous money just for a "complete" collection. Mine is complete to my satisfaction that that is fine by me. I do think it is interesting how the 1936 S and D varieties were so much more difficult for me to find in XF than even 1921's. Maybe it was just my coin source, but still... I do try to find varieties were applicable and incorporate them into my collection. It may just be my imagination or me making my mind think I see variations in size for mintmarks, but there are so many to look for besides those recognized in Redbook. Makes hunting all the more fun!

Well, those are my biased thoughts. Hopefully some were so biased to spur debate and conversation. Now that it's almost 1 AM in Mobile, time for dreaming about Mercs.

 

I like Merc Dimes too.. great design and plenty of common dates which are very affordable in high grades.

Of course, the big key date 1916-D gets pricey in high grades. Here's a monster PCGS MS67FB CAC 1916-D which is for sale on Heritage next month!!!!! I'm guessing it sells for around $125,000:

http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?SaleNo=1143&LotIdNo=11032

 

yea i love mercury dimes also. definitely top 3 for non gold coins and probably top 5 including gold. only non gold coin i can say for sure i like better is the walker half.

a mercury dime collection would be my next set to do, but that pesky '16-D scares me away. i hate holes in my albums(my girls OCD must be rubbing off on me).

i also love showing people my "broken nose variety" mercury's(even though its not a true variety).

 

It shouldn't stir any debate because it is one of the greatest coin designs in American History. It is undoubtedly the best dime design. This thread is lacking without photos, but we can remedy that. Lets start with the 1916.



The Mercury Dime series also has everything a collector could ask for. Key dates like the 1916, 1921 & 1921-D. An fantastic overdate in the 1942/1. Cool varieties like the broken nose and trumpet tail S along with countless RPM's. There are die clashes, die breaks, and cuds. It has the most recognized of all of the strike designations (Full Bands). They are found blast white and fantastically toned. The grades run the entire scale from P-01 to MS69. And if that wasn't enough, they have an infamous couple of counterfeits known as the Soviet dimes produced in a date/mm (1923-D, 1930-D) when there were no Mercury Dimes minted by the Denver mint.

All of these factors make the Mercury Dime series a dream for the United States coin collector. I love the series and it was the first series of graded coins that I ever collected.

If we really want to make this a long lasting thread, why don't we try to post a photo of the next coin in the series. I have started with the 1916 and next up is the 1916-D. I know we have a few on this forum so it shouldn't be tough. To remind the next poster it might be a good idea at the end of each post. If you don't post a photo of the next coin, please repeat the reminder.

NEXT COIN: 1916-D

 

Oh god, I'm gonna go pull out my Mercs and drool over them right now.

I freakin' love these coins. Getting one from my father sparked some serious interest in coin collecting for me back in the day, and that continues through today. They're absolutely stunning in AU and higher conditions and truly reach back to an age where our coinage was, simply said, beautiful and elegant.

If you include the 2 I purchased today, I only own 13 Mercs. But I still love them. Picked up an F-ish 1918 example with purple and blue toning today for $6. Might have overpaid a bit, but the toning really caught my eye.

 

No picture of mine LeHigh but I'll see what I can do for some of these...will scan's be alright?
As for the coin it was my first to collect too and it's just a wonderful coin!!

NEXT COIN: 1916-D

 

I do not like dimes. For my taste, they are to small and their weight in my hand just doesn't feel right. HOWEVER - I have two Mercury Dansco albums that I am trying to complete because I love the design. They are beautiful which softens my prejudice against them. When I'm feeling rather bored with my collection, I can pull out a few Mercury dimes and get motivated. For that purpose I keep a small stack of them on my desk all the time. Looking forward to reading this thread. Thanks LeHigh96 for the pictures, hope to see more here.

 

So that is probably going to be the biggest complaint and maybe the only one about Mercury's. The size of a dime.

What would they look like in Half Dollar size? Would we still like them as much?

NEXT COIN: 1916-D

 

There is something special about the looks of the Mercury dime. Wish I had saved more at a younger age. Really nice ones went for about the price of silver. I spent about ten years putting a set together, one coin at a time.
Still have that set but I'm missing one coin. Not hard to guess what it is.
Still working on the proofs but the prices have slowed my interest a bit.
I still sometimes grab a nice Mercury when I see it. This is one of my last.

 

I love the Mercury dime. As I go along I find that the dime is becoming my favorite denomination to collect, and the Mercury dimes sure do look nice! Currently, I have 14 of them in my collection, of which I inherited 6 from my late father. One of them is in desperate need of an upgrade however.

I agree that it is one of the best designs we've had. It's not my favorite, but for me, too, it's in the top 5. It's truly a classic!

I'm sorry I can't stay in chronological order, but I want to be able to share mine and there is no way I will ever have a 1916 D!

Here is my latest addition, a 1917 that I got in April. It looks better in person than it does scanned.


Here is a 1938. This is one of the best coins in my collection, showing full mint lustre. It also didn't scan well, but what looks like black is just reflections...it's that nice! I purchased it at CoinFest last October.


Here is a 1944 D. This is also uncirculated but the scan shows a fingerprint. I don't see the print in real life. I am hoping that the print is on the 2x2 which it was scanned inside! Also purchased at CoinFest.


Those are the only three I've scanned, but here is a photo of my 1945 year set. This was the first set I've completed from the silver era. As of right now, it's still the only silver era year set I've completed, but I don't think I'm doing too bad because when I started collecting in May of 2008, the only one I had to begin with was the half dollar! The dime and quarter were both purchased at CoinFest, and the nickel was pulled from circulation! The dime kind of stands out being uncirculated, but I don't mind!



Here is a photo of the obverse of my 1925 example. This is the one that I need an upgrade on. Also one of the coins I inherited. The back is just as bad!

 

A Hoarding "Sickness"

Well Written!! I thought that since you virtually never hear anything about this coin, that I had a compulsive disorder when I became so obsessed with the design. I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone in appreciation of this relatively unappreciated coin type/design. I believe the coin to be a fantastic design of 90% Silver, with many relatively (i.e. to the Roosevelt design) low mintage date/mint-mark coins, selling at a relatively insignificant premium. I became so obsessed with the design, that I purchased them in quarter-bag, then half-bag, then bag quantities. It became so bad that the small dealer who was obtaining them for me, refused to sell me any more because he thought I was "money laundering", afraid of an IRS audit. I ultimately was placing ads in Numismatic publications, offering to purchase large quantities of the coin. I amassed a hoard of hundreds of thousands, believing that, as I, surely future generations would really appreciate/desire the coin. I was really wrong about that, as modern youths will hardly purchase mint-marked coins produced in the early twentieth century for their bullion value. I ultimately received more from "junk coin" wholesalers, than modern youths would pay for the coins on this site, eBay, eBid, etc.. I find it a shame that seemingly luster and errors are currently appreciated more than symbolism/artistry, much less the potential for PM appreciation. Although I appreciate the St. Gaudens' design, I've grown tired of same, and too often review beautiful "full band" Mercury dime specimens with awe.
:thumb:

 

Wow guys! This is GREAT! Being a Mercury Dime nut myself, I LOVE all this! Thanks for all the replies! I hope they are a few of many more to come!If this thread DOES stay active -which I'm hoping it to- I'll have an EXCELLENT time reading! Thank you, hopefully, this thread will stay active and provide us all with loads of fun reading all about this remarkable coin. Dimeguy and Imrich, I especially enjoyed your long replies. I could not have said that any better! Good luck, and keep 'em coming! - coincrazed

 

Thought I might contribute by posting pictures of the grading scale of Mercury Dimes, Taken right out of The Official A.N.A. Grading Standards of U.S. Coins, here is Good-4.

 

This is apropos to the thread, the fasces was used in Republican Rome, the fasces was a bundle of rods, the rods were a symbol that the judicial authority had the power to punish (beating with rods), the axe bundled in with the rods was a symbol that the state had the power to take life, Roman capital punishment was being beheaded with an axe, slaves and barbarians were crucified. And all the official safeguards of a proper trial that were accorded to Roman citizens were not considered necessary when dealing with a slave or a subjected people.

I believe these symbols were used in official proceedings in the roman state even unto the imperial times, a court that was trying a regular case would have the bundle of rods displayed, a court that was trying a capital case would have the bundle of rods with an axe in the bundle.

I am relying on memory here for this, I think I picked this up either from Plutarchs "Lives of the Noble Romans" or from Gibbons opus.

 

The bad thing about a coin that is in high demand are the fake copies sold from the big "C". Here is an image of one of these fakes.

I do not own the fake one, just the 1916 plain in the image. The 1916 dimes had the strongest/highest devices on them. When you have a BU coin to compare to the other years you will see what I mean. More detail pops out at you.
(Note my coin, but posting it anyway._

Here is a side by side comparison to show the difference in strength of detail of the 1916 with a 1930-S Dime.




Although being a Cent enthusiast, my first love was the Mercury Dimes.

 

Correct G-4 Photo/Image

OK, now you've shown the dealer's "buy" version of the A.N.A. Grading Standards, with the coin in the G-4 picture incorrectly not matching the definition, (AG-3 picture matches G-4 definition) and in better condition than the coin shown as a VG-8 (which has date, reverse legend blending into incomplete rim). I will now show the dealer's (and TPG) "sell" version of the A.N.A. Grading Standards, where the picture correctly matches the description. You might also consider showing the AG-3 and VG-8 photos/definition. That one G-4 photo has caused significant problems for the collecting consumers who cherish this coin design. :rolling:

 

Coop, those are some really great photos showing detail variances between different dates. Very informative. I will admit I totally forgot about the extrenuous detail in the lower hair and occiput until you brought it up. (Pic 4). Great additions to this thread!

 

Correct G-4 Graded 1916-D Description/Photo

The following is the dealer's (and TPG) "sell" version of the A.N.A. Grading Standards, where the picture correctly matches the description. I've also incorporated an Obverse/Reverse photo beneath the description, which correctly shows a G-4 Grade 1916-D.

 

1916-S Poor image I know, but we can move on.

1917 Dime?