Mercury Dimes: First Dime Design for the 20th Century

The Act of September 26, 1890, allowed for new coin designs after 25 years, including dimes. This set the stage for a 20th century motif to replace Charles E. Barber's 1892 Liberty Head design, known as the Barber dime.

Barber’s design had featured a right-facing Liberty wearing a freedom cap, surrounded by a laurel wreath and the word liberty stamped on the headband. By contrast, Adolph Weinman's classical and more streamlined dime profile faced left, and Liberty's winged, close-fitting cap resembled a woman's cloche (a bell-shaped hat of the period). His initials, AW, can be found to the right of the neck.

Due to Weinman’s winged dime design, the coin was named the Winged Liberty Head dime. However, once the dime began to circulate, the public made a visual connection to the Roman messenger god Mercury. They became known as “Mercury dimes," and the nickname continues to this day.

The reverse side of Weinman's silver Mercury Head dimes features a Roman fasces – a battle axe bound within a group of rods – to symbolize strength through unity. It is surrounded by a semi-circular olive branch, with the mint mark found to the left of the cut end of the branch.

Issuing Mints

Mercury dimes were struck at three mints: Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco. However, no "D" Mercury dimes were issued in 1923 or 1930 – coins bearing those date and mint mark combinations are counterfeits.

The low-mintage 1916-D Mercury Dimes were initially overlooked by collectors. As a result, finding them in Mint State condition today is very rare.