Mercury Dimes

Because of their vintage and beauty, Mercury Head dimes are popular with silver coin buyers. Mercury Head dimes are often called Mercury dimes or simply Merc dimes.  They are also called Winged Liberty Head dimes.

Mercury dimes were minted 1916-1945 and were companions to the equally-popular Walking Liberty half-dollars, which were minted 1916-1947. In 1946, to honor four-term president Franklin Roosevelt, Congress passed legislation that replaced Mercury Head dimes with Roosevelt dimes.

Mercury Head Dimes Bags Sell at Premiums

Bags of Mercury dimes sell at premiums to pre-1965 Roosevelt dimes, despite a bag of Mercury dimes and a bag of pre-’65 Roosevelt dimes each yielding right at 715 ounces of pure silver if smelted. Although a bag of circulated (junk) dimes may contain a few Mercury Head dimes, buyers should not count on getting many Mercury Head dimes when buying bags of junk dimes. Usually, a bag of junk dimes contains all Roosevelt dimes.

Because Mercury Head dimes were used as money until 1965, most of them show significant wear; However, the Merc dimes that CMI Gold & Silver Inc. delivers to its clients are hand-sorted to eliminate the heavily worn coins.  Mercury Head dimes carry premiums over bags of Roosevelt dimes.

Mercury dimes: Added Potential Price Appreciation

Investors buying silver and coins for survival purposes should buy bags of junk U.S. 90% silver coins. Yet, investors wanting added potential price appreciation should consider the venerable Mercury Head dimes, which circulated as money during some of the United States’ most tumultuous times: World War I, the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and World War II. During the Great Depression, when a man down on his luck asked, “Brother, can you spare a dime?” he was hoping for a Mercury Head dime.

Additionally, another big difference between bags of Mercury Head dimes and bags of Roosevelt dimes is that Mercury dimes were made of only one alloy, 90% silver and 10% copper. Roosevelt dimes, however, were minted of two alloys, 90% silver and 10% copper between 1946 and 1964

Roosevelt dimes dated 1965 and later contain no silver, being minted of a copper-nickel alloy. Therefore, the Mercury Head design makes them readily recognizable as 90% silver coins, whereas with Roosevelt dimes the dates have to be inspected.

Bags of Silver Coins Usually Available; Mercury Dimes Bags Now Available

CMIGS most always has bags of junk silver coins ready for shipment, and we usually have bags of Mercury Head dimes. Investors looking to buy are invited to call CMIGS at 1-800-528-1380. We take calls 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. MST, Mondays through Fridays

CMIGS is headquartered in the Phoenix, Arizona financial district in downtown Phoenix. We are Arizona’s oldest silver bullion dealer.  And, we are probably the nation’s oldest silver bullion dealer.