About this coin

Face value: ten cents
Collector value: minimum, the value of the silver (at least 50¢)

I love this coin!

As tiny as it is, there are many (me! me!) who think this is the most beautiful coin the US ever minted. But, oh, such a strange mix of symbolism. Plenty of these were still in circulation when I was a kid. And which would you rather have jingling in your pocket, a hard steel coin with stuffy old Roosevelt, or a soft lustrous silver coin with the head of a god?

And yet it isn't...

The head of a god, I mean. Everyone saw the wings and thought "Mercury," the Roman messenger god. The god of trade, commercial success and prosperity. Just the dude to put on money, and we still persist in calling them Mercury dimes.

But, in fact, it's Elsie Kachel Stevens in a preposterous hat. She was the wife of poet Wallace Stevens and probably the model. The figure is Liberty. By law. Specifically, an Act of Congress from 1837 which mandates "...that upon the coins struck at the mint there shall be the following devices and legends; upon one side of each of said coins there shall be an impression emblematic of liberty, with an inscription of the word LIBERTY..." and on the reverse an eagle and the date, unless it's a dime or a Wednesday or a leap year or you have a better idea. Or something. "In God We Trust" didn't slip onto our money until the Civil War.

The hat is a Phrygian cap, which originally came, oddly enough, from Phrygia (now part of Turkey). In Greek art, popping a Phrygian cap on someone's head means he was a foreigner, but in Rome it was worn by slaves who became freemen (meaning their kids would be free, too). It's used in the iconography of both the French Revolution and our revolution to symbolize freedom in general. Liberty is wearing one, or waving it about on a stick, on many of our early coins.

It's a funny triangular soft cloth hat, with the peak tipped forward. Like what the Smurfs wear, though goodness knows why they do. On this coin, it's all swirled on top of Liberty's head in a big mound, like a soft-serve icecream cone or a pile of poo. The wings, however, are an innovation. They symbolize freedom of thought. Well, that's nice, isn't it?

Isn't it?

But then there's the other side

The thing on the tails side is a fascis, which is latin for "bundle," and an olive branch. Fasces were bundles of birch rods tied tightly together around an axe, which in Roman times were carried by guards before an authority figure like a judge or emperor. They literally represent the power to whip you (the rods) or kill you (the axe) for breaking the law.

Fasces have a history in modern iconography, too, as symbolic of national unity and the power of the state. They appear on the French coat of arms, as well as our own Lincoln Memorial and the statue of Eternal Vigilance outside the National Archives. Most memorably, though, fasces were adopted by Benito Mussolini. His political party was called Fasci di combattimento, which evoked both the fasces and the related Italian word fascio, a labor union or political group. Basically, it meant "the war group." Yup, it's where the term "fascist" comes from.

When this coin was designed in 1916, WWI was thrashing Europe and we were trying to keep ourselves well out of it. This was our way of saying we want peace, but we are a mighty nation and we think for ourselves (a fat lot of good it did us). Ninety years later, though, and the apparent symbolism is way strange and distinctly creepy. Free thought and the fascist power of the state? Not in the same meal, thanks.

Junk silver

Literally billions of these dimes were minted. Eleven million pounds of them. Only the finest examples, or the rarest years, have value to collectors. But the rest still have an intrinsic value because they are 90% silver. At this moment, the market value of silver makes one dime worth about fifty cents.

Separating the silver from the copper must be relatively easy, because bags of these dimes have been melted down when silver is in short supply. And many bags more are sold as "junk silver."

Buying junk silver — uncollectible silver coins in bulk — is a back-handed method of precious metals investing. Okay, it's a kind of strange method, but it's much favored by people who think society may eventually break down completely. A Mercury dime is not only worth fifty cents in silver, in a pinch it's worth a dime American. Me, I think if society breaks down completely, nobody will care about precious metals — financial transactions will all be in cat food and toilet paper. But that's just me. Unfortunately, to buy junk silver at a price that is close to market value of the silver by weight usually requires buying bags of coins worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Mercury dimes were also the favorite of those homegrown sorcerers who made lucky pieces for gamblers and other magic charms.

What to look for

The most vulnerable part of a Mercury dime, both in minting and circulation, are the bands around the fasces. There are three horizontal and two diagonal bands binding the bundles of rods together. The center one, in pristine coins, is subtly split into two bands. This is called Full Split Band, or FSB. Only a brand new die can make one.

Okay, so I'm not leaving any pristine coins in the woods. I've yet to see an ugly Mercury dime, no matter how worn, and "junk" grades of this coin are more beautiful than "good" grades of many other coins. And her proper name is "Winged Liberty Head" dime.

Enjoy!

I hope you get a kick out of this dime. I certainly did. I carry a little pile of Mercurys around with me — I love the silvery tinkle they make rattling against each other. Do let me know if it goes on to further adventures. Address correspondence to: coins@FieldNotebook.com.

History: bought a roll of dimes in July, 2004. On Friday, August 6, one of these puppies phoned home. IronGiant says: Just wanted to let you know that I left your dime in “right on time” cache last week. This is a location-less cache and it will probably be there a while…. I figured that someone else could learn about the coin and all the work you did on the web page.

Cool!