Historic 10-Cent Pieces Survive the Test of Time

By Tom LaMarre, Coins Magazine October 10, 2011

This article was originally printed in Coins Magazine.
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Its name may be French in origin, meaning a tenth part, but the dime is a purely American coin. When the first examples were struck in the 1790s, the Old French “disme” was used. By the early 1800s, “dime” had become the standard spelling, production had increased significantly and new designs had kept pace with the changing times.

It would be difficult to imagine American popular culture without the dime. The late 1800s gave rise to dime banks and dime novels. In the early 1960s, there were dime Cokes, candy bars and comic books. One thin dime would buy two packs of baseball cards.

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Because of inflation, the situation is different today. A tenth of a dollar doesn’t seem like much at all, unless it happens to be one of the rare dimes prized by collectors. The best sell for more than $1 million.

1796

Alexander Hamilton liked the idea of a dime—so did Benjamin Franklin and Mint Director David Rittenhouse. But the U.S. Mint didn’t strike its first dimes until 1796, although a small run of “dismes” was struck in the basement of a Philadelphia saw maker’s shop in 1792.

Using Draped Bust obverse and small eagle reverse dies engraved by Robert Scot, the Philadelphia Mint turned out 22,135 dimes in 1796. Researchers have learned that in addition to the reported mintage, 10,244 1796-dated dimes were struck on Feb. 28, 1797, and 6,380 on March 21, 1797.

Eccentric Texas millionaire E.H.R. Green owned a hoard of mint-state 1796 dimes. They were sold after his death in the 1930s.

Today, you can expect to pay around $25,000 for a Mint State-60 1796 dime, if you are fortunate enough to locate one. At the other end of the grading spectrum, a Good-4 example is valued at nearly $3,000, according to Coin Prices.

1822

Mint records indicate 100,000 dimes were struck in 1822. But this figure is probably incorrect, based on the rarity of 1822 dimes in all grades.

The actual mintage may have been closer to 50,000, including an estimated five proofs struck for VIPs or favored collectors.

The total mintage listed for 1822 probably included many dimes dated 1821, according to an article by Paul Green in Numismatic News.

Coin Prices lists the 1822 dime at values starting at $1,000 in G-4 and peaking at $70,000 for an MS-65. The value of a proof 1822 dime would have to be determined at auction but would definitely be in six figures.

One or more obverse dies dated 1822 were repunched in 1823 and used to strike more than 400,000 dimes. A Very Good-8 1823/22 dime is valued at around $50.

1829 ‘Curl Base 2’

It took a long time for the dime to become a familiar coin. In a report written in 1817, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams said that dimes were “seldom seen, never presented in their material images to the people” and “have remained utterly unknown.”

The situation wasn’t much different 14 years later. The March 11, 1831, issue of the Pittsburgh Gazette reprinted an item from the Boston Transcript, predicting the attempt to introduce dimes into more general circulation would “likely prove abortive.”

The absence of dimes from circulation was despite the fact the Mint struck fairly large quantities in some years. In 1829, for example, it produced 770,000 dimes. It was a banner year for dime varieties, including the rare 1829 “curl base 2.”

Apparently the “curl base 2” obverse die was retired after just brief use, because of a die crack running from the top rim through Liberty’s cap.

John McCloskey discovered the 1829 “curl base 2” dime in a dealer’s stock in Dayton, Ohio, in 1973. Additional examples have since come to light, but most of the survivors are worn or damaged.

Values for the 1829 “curl base 2” dime range from $7,750 for a G-4 specimen to $44,000 for an About Uncirculated example.

1844 ‘Orphan Annie’

The Philadelphia Mint struck more than 1.3 million dimes in 1843 and nearly 2 million in 1845. But in 1844 it turned out only 72,500, and survivors are even scarcer than the mintage might suggest.

Still, it took a long time for collectors to pay any attention to the 1844 dime. Frank C. Ross of Kansas City supposedly “discovered” the 1844 dime’s rarity in 1930. Inspired by the popular comic strip of the same name, he called it the “Orphan Annie dime” because he said it “had no buyers and was just an orphan in the coin world.”

Cynics say “baloney.” They claim the real reason Ross gave the dime such a build-up was that he owned a hoard of 1844 dimes and wanted to pump up their value. However, if you try to find an 1844 dime in a dealer’s stock today, you will most likely come up empty-handed and become a believer in “Orphan Annie” dime’s rarity.

In the 1930s, magazine articles and radio programs spread many legends about 1844 dimes. One story was that the coins were improperly alloyed, making them soft and susceptible to wear. This would explain why so few have survived.

Another explanation was that most of the dimes were melted at the Mint for an unspecified reason. As an alternative, you could choose just about any major disaster to account for the disappearance of the 1844 dimes: the great Johnstown flood, the Chicago fire or any one of a number of shipwrecks.

According to another legend, the dimes were made available to U.S. soldiers during the Mexican War, and, in turn, were given to senoritas.

Yet another story claimed the dimes were on a covered wagon destined for California forty-niners. Indians supposedly attacked and burned the wagon, stole the dimes and buried them for safekeeping. Later, the Indians themselves were killed, taking the secret of the dimes’ hiding place to their graves.

Myths aside, there is no denying the value of the 1844 dime. You can expect to pay around $3,000 for an MS-60 example. In G-4, an 1844 dime is valued at $275.

1846

No one paid much attention to dime mintages in 1846. There were more important things to worry about. On May 11, 1846, Congress declared that a state of war existed with Mexico.

Congress appropriated $10 million for the war effort and authorized President James K. Polk to call out 50,000 volunteers for military service.

The Philadelphia Mint didn’t strike enough dimes to provide even one for each soldier. The 1846 dime had a mintage of only 31,300, including an estimated 10 proofs.

Only a few mint-state survivors are known. An MS-60 1846 Philadelphia dime is valued at $5,500.

1873-CC ‘No Arrows’

The Coinage Act of 1873 increased the dime’s weight to put it on a metric basis. Dimes struck under the new standard were distinguished by arrowheads alongside the date.

Before the change went into effect, the Carson City Mint struck 12,400 1873 dimes without the arrows. But only one survivor is known.

Mint records indicate the 1873-CC “no arrows” dimes were shipped to a distribution point in February 1873. Then they seemed to vanish. Some numismatists think they were melted in July 1873 because banks didn’t need them.

In 1878, a dime described as 1873-CC “Old Style” sold at auction for 17 cents.

Wisconsin collector H.O. Granberg exhibited an 1873-CC “no arrows” dime at the American Numismatic Society in 1914. At a Wayte Raymond auction in 1915, it realized $170.

Subsequent owners of the 1873-CC “no arrows” dime included Rudolph Keller, Waldo Newcomer and Charles M. Williams.

Auctioned again in 1950, the unique dime brought $3,650. Dealers James Kelly and Sol Kaplan became the new owners, but not for long. In November 1950, Louis Eliasberg Sr. acquired the dime. It was the last coin he needed to complete his collection of U.S. coins.

The story of the 1873-CC “no arrows” dime came full circle in 2004 when it was displayed at the Nevada State Museum, formerly the home of the Carson City Mint.

Waldo Bolen paid $550,000 for the dime in 1996. Three years later, Jay Parrino acquired it for $632,500, and later put it on the market for $1 million.

1894-S Liberty Head

Designed by engraver Charles Barber, for whom they were eventually named, the Barber dime, quarter and half dollar went into production in January 1892.

Some collectors consider the dime the most attractive Barber coin. But that wasn’t the case when the design made its debut. The March 24, 1892, issue of the Olean Democrat reported, “The new coins from the Mint this year have run against various objections based on aesthetic grounds, especially the dime.”

Beautiful or not, many 1892 Barber dimes were set aside. However, the Panic of 1893 resulted in diminished demand for coins. In early 1894, the Treasury had a huge stockpile of dimes.

The San Francisco Mint struck only 24 dimes in 1894. Unlike some other rare coins, the 1894-S dimes were not created secretly or without authorization. They were listed in the Mint director’s Annual Report.

Why were they minted? Several theories have been suggested. One is that the San Francisco Mint needed exactly 24 dimes to balance its books at the end of the fiscal year.

Another is that San Francisco Mint Superintendent John Daggett ordered the dimes struck for himself and seven banker friends. Each supposedly received three dimes. Legend has it that Daggett’s daughter, Hallie, spent one for ice cream on her way home.

However, there is little documentation to back up the stories, just speculation or hearsay. According to an item in the San Francisco Call in 1895, the San Francisco Mint clerk received many letters from collectors requesting 1894-S dimes. The standard reply was that none were available.

Records indicate that five 1894-S dimes were sent to Philadelphia for assaying. This information disproves the theory the dimes were struck to balance the books. It also negates the story that Daggett and his banker friends received three dimes apiece.

A more plausible explanation for the striking of the 1894-S dimes came from the San Francisco Mint’s chief clerk, Robert Barnett. In the Nov. 8, 1895, issue of the Kendallville (Ind.) Standard, he was quoted as saying the San Francisco Mint had taken in a large amount of “uncurrent design” silver coins in 1894. As a result, it did not plan to strike any dimes that year.

“However, when nearly all of this subsidiary silver coin bullion had been utilized,” Barnett explained, “we found on our hands a quantity that would coin to advantage only into dimes, and into dimes it was coined, making just 24 of them.”

At the time the article was published, the 1894-S dime reportedly was valued at $5. Today, Coin Prices lists an MS-65 1894-S dime at $1.9 million.

1905 ‘micro O’

New Orleans was a busy place in 1905. A yellow fever epidemic—the city’s last—claimed 450 lives. A new program to combat mosquitoes eliminated any future threat.

In October, President Theodore Roosevelt accepted an invitation to visit New Orleans.

At the New Orleans Mint, it was business as usual. Since the late 1880s, the Mint’s presses often had been kept running on Sundays to meet the demand for dimes. In 1905, it struck more than 3.5 million. But only a small percentage were the “micro O” variety, discovered by Howard R. Newcomb in the 1940s.

Two obverses are known: one with the tip of the “1” to the right of Barber’s initial, and the other with the tip of the “1” directly below the “B.”

In MS-63, a 1905 “micro O” dime is valued at more than $1,500. Fine-12 specimens usually sell for less than $100.

1916-D Mercury

All eyes were focused on the Philadelphia Mint in 1916 as work progressed on outside artists’ designs for a new dime, quarter and half dollar. The design competition had gone smoothly, but transforming the models into finished dies was another matter.

Designed by sculptor Adolph Weinman, the Mercury dime may have been the least troublesome of the three new coins, but it still gave the Mint’s engravers a headache. The first Mercury dimes weren’t’ released until late October 1916, almost four months behind schedule.

The late start was only a partial explanation for the Denver Mint’s striking just 264,000 Mercury dimes in 1916. The entire production run was completed in November. Later the same month, Denver Mint officials were told to concentrate on quarter dollars. Production of other denominations was temporarily suspended.

Many people didn’t see their first Mercury dime until 1917. The Jan. 17, 1917, issue of the Reading Eagle reported:

“For several months the Mints at Denver, San Francisco and Philadelphia have been minting the newly designed coins at the rate of $40,000 worth a day. This sounds like an immense amount of small change, but it takes an immense amount to supply the population of the big country.”

Demand for Mercury dimes was strong in most areas. Many were saved as keepsakes. But there were few coin collectors in Colorado. Apparently, most of the 1916-D dimes went into circulation and stayed there, at least for a while.

Mint-state 1916-D Mercury dimes are expensive today. Coin Prices lists an MS-65 example with “full split bands” in the fasces on the reverse at nearly $50,000.

By modern standards, the 1916-D dime was a rarity from the time it was struck. It turned out to be the lowest-mintage Mercury dime, the only one with a mintage less than 1 million.

To put the figure into perspective, consider that it would have taken the entire production run to pay for the unique gold Studebaker chassis exhibited at the 1916 National Automobile Show. In an ad in the January 1940 issue of The Numismatist, Milwaukee coin dealer John R. Steward offered uncirculated 1916-D dimes for less than $10 each.

In 1996, Littleton Coin Co., of Littleton, N.H., displayed a hoard of 241 1916-D Mercury dimes at the American Numismatic Association convention in Denver. It may have been the largest assemblage of 1916-D dimes in Denver since the year they were minted.

Duplicating the hoard today would be a difficult feat. Even in G-4, a 1916-D Mercury dime will set you back around $1,000.

1942/1 Mercury

The Philadelphia Mint was a busy place in the autumn of 1941. Workers were preparing 1941-dated dies for the then-current year’s coinage and 1942-dated dies for the approaching year.

Apparently an obverse dime die received an impression from a 1941 hub and was sent to the annealing room for hardening. Upon its return, it was mistakenly placed alongside the wrong machinery and was given an impression from a 1942-dated hub.

Most of the 1942/1 dimes were distributed through the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The May 1943 issue of Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine reported that Arnold Cohn of Kingston, N.Y., had discovered a 1942/1 Philadelphia dime. A second example was pictured in the June 1943 issue of Numismatic Review.

George Shaw of Brooklyn, N.Y., advertised 1942/1 dimes in the February 1945 issue of Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine.

In the 1990s, Littleton Coin Co. purchased 166 1942/1 dimes from an accumulation called the “New York Subway Hoard.”

The Denver Mint also struck 1942/1 dimes, but they were not widely known until the 1960s. The reason for the delay was that the Denver Mint overdate is not as distinct as the Philadelphia Mint variety. Only portions of the “1” are visible beneath the “2.”

The 1942/1-D dime was first pictured in the 1963 edition of Frank G. Spadone’s Major Variety & Oddity Guide. Its popularity and value have increased dramatically since then. In EF-40, the 1942/1-D dime is valued at $825, while the Philadelphia Mint overdate has a retail value of $750.

Into the Future

From the early Federal period to the Space Age and beyond, the dime has proven to be a real time traveler, surviving changing public tastes and economic conditions. Inflation may further diminish its purchasing power, and coins themselves might someday give way to some kind of electronic substitute. But the best historic dimes will maintain their lofty status as long as there are collectors who appreciate their rarity and remember their stories.

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