The Mercury dime is what started this writer, R.W. Julian, collecting coins. In the fall of 1950 I lived in Longmont, Colo. and a local grocery store advertised that it would sell a pound of margarine for a dime if that coin was dated 1940. It did not take long to discover why the store was so ‘generous:’ this particular dime was very hard to find in that part of the country. There is more to the history of the Mercury dime than just being used an as advertisement for merchandise, however.
In the first place, although called the ‘Mercury’ dime, it is also sometimes referred to as the Winged Liberty Head dime as the head is of a woman, not a man. (Mercury was a male god of the Roman world whose role was primarily of commerce and commercial affairs.) However, to the general public and numismatists as well, this coin is called the Mercury dime and probably will be as long as there are collectors of United States coins.
In 1892 the Barber dime was introduced and, although not great art, served the nation well for 24 years. During the Administration of President Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921) it came to the attention of Treasury Secretary William G. McAdoo that the 25–year limit on changing coin designs was about to fall due on the minor silver coinage. The Treasury Secretary, who had presidential ambitions, saw in the coinage redesign an excellent opportunity to score points with the public for both himself and the President.
