- 1945 Mercury Dime
Coin Info
- The Mercury dime is a ten-cent coin struck by the United States Mint from late 1916 to 1945. Designed by Adolph Weinman and also referred to as the Winged Liberty Head dime, it gained its common name because the obverse depiction of a young Liberty, identifiable by her winged Phrygian cap, was confused with the Roman god Mercury.
- Mercury dimes are very popular collector coins produced by the United States Mint from 1916 to 1945. These dime is composed of 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper making them attractive to both silver stackers and collectors alike.
1945 was the last year of the Mercury dime series and is notable not just for that fact but also because that was the year that a fairly popular mintmark variety was created in the 1945-S micro-S dime. Though not a rarity, the 1945-S micro-S dime is a curiosity for series enthusiasts and adds a little extra challenge for coin collectors who want a little variety – no pun intended – in their Mercury dime. Mercury dimes are very popular ten-cent pieces produced by the United States Mint from 1916 to 1945. This dime is composed of 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper. The coin contains a total of just over.072 troy ounces of silver. The Mercury Dime is also commonly referred to as the Winged Liberty Head Dime and was designed by Adolph Weinman. If you are talking about the Mercury Dime from 1945 or any other year, one of the first things you will hear a collector ask about is the condition the coin is in. Naturally, when completing collections, collectors aim to add only well-preserved coins.
1945 was the last year of the Mercury dime series and is notable not just for that fact but also because that was the year that a fairly popular mintmark variety was created in the 1945-S micro-S dime. Though not a rarity, the 1945-S micro-S dime is a curiosity for series enthusiasts and adds a little extra challenge for coin collectors who want a little variety – no pun intended – in their Mercury dime collections. The micro-S mintmark is a variation of the regular “S” mintmark and is fairly well represented in terms of number, as it remains relatively common today. However, no exact mintage or population figures can be ascertained for the 1945-S Micro-S variety.
What follows are mintage figures for the 1945 Mercury dime:
1945, 159,130,000 minted; $4
1945-D, 40,245,000; $4
1945-S, 41,920,000; $4
1945-S micro-S, mintage unknown; $8
*Values are for coins in a grade of Extremely Fine-40.
1945 Mercury Dime Ms65
Mint state examples of the 1945 dime can be had for under $10, except for the micro-S variety, which will set coin collectors back about $30 to $40 for an example in the MS-60 to MS-63 range. Gem specimens of the three regular-issue 1945 Mercury dimes are available for under $30 each, with the micro-S selling for closer to $100 in that same grade.
The United States Mint would cease production of the Mercury dime in 1945, the year that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died. In honor of the fallen president, the highly familiar Roosevelt dime debuted the following year.
Other Years From This Coin Series
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1945 Mercury Dime Au
The most popular design for the ten cent denomination is the Mercury Dime, which was produced from 1916 to 1945. During this time period mintages varied widely from just a few hundred thousand for the well known key date to more than 200 million for some years. Assembling an a collection for each date and mint mark within the series is an ambitious but approachable goal for collectors.
Designed by Adolph A. Weinman, the obverse of the coin features a portrait of Liberty facing left. She wears a winged cap, which led to the popular moniker for the series. It is often noted that the Roman god Mercury actually had wings on his feet. The obverse inscriptions are “Liberty”, “In God We Trust”, and the date. On the reverse is a Roman fasces, which consists of sticks bound around an axe, and an olive branch. The inscriptions are “United States of America”, “One Dime”, and “E Pluribus Unum”.
For the Mercury Dime series:
- There are a total of 77 different date and mint mark combinations, including coins struck at the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco Mints.
- Across all issues of the series, there were 2,676,523,880 coins produced. This is more than five times the production of the previous Barber Dime series, which had roughly the same number of issues.
- The peak mintage occurred with the 1944 Mercury Dime, with 231,410,000 coins struck at the Philadelphia Mint.
- The lowest mintage issue and famous key date is the 1916-D Mercury Dime. There were a scant 264,000 pieces minted and most were well circulated before being saved by collectors.
- The average mintage across all issues is 34,760,050.
1945 Mercury Dime Micro S Value
| 1916 | 22,180,080 |
| 1916-D | 264,000 |
| 1916-S | 10,450,000 |
| 1917 | 55,230,000 |
| 1917-D | 9,402,000 |
| 1917-S | 27,330,000 |
| 1918 | 26,680,000 |
| 1918-D | 22,674,800 |
| 1918-S | 19,300,000 |
| 1919 | 35,740,000 |
| 1919-D | 9,939,000 |
| 1919-S | 8,850,000 |
| 1920 | 59,030,000 |
| 1920-D | 19,171,000 |
| 1920-S | 13,820,000 |
| 1921 | 1,230,000 |
| 1921-D | 1,080,000 |
| 1923 | 50,130,000 |
| 1923-S | 6,440,000 |
| 1924 | 24,010,000 |
| 1924-D | 6,810,000 |
| 1924-S | 7,120,000 |
| 1925 | 25,610,000 |
| 1925-D | 5,117,000 |
| 1925-S | 5,850,000 |
| 1926 | 32,160,000 |
| 1926-D | 6,828,000 |
| 1926-S | 1,520,000 |
| 1927 | 28,080,000 |
| 1927-D | 4,812,000 |
| 1927-S | 4,770,000 |
| 1928 | 19,480,000 |
| 1928-D | 4,161,000 |
| 1928-S | 7,400,000 |
| 1929 | 25,970,000 |
| 1929-D | 5,034,000 |
| 1929-S | 4,730,000 |
| 1930 | 6,770,000 |
| 1930-S | 1,843,000 |
| 1931 | 3,150,000 |
| 1931-D | 1,260,000 |
| 1931-S | 1,800,000 |
| 1934 | 24,080,000 |
| 1934-D | 6,772,000 |
| 1935 | 58,830,000 |
| 1935-D | 10,477,000 |
| 1935-S | 15,840,000 |
| 1936 | 87,500,000 |
| 1936-D | 16,132,000 |
| 1936-S | 9,210,000 |
| 1937 | 56,860,000 |
| 1937-D | 14,146,000 |
| 1937-S | 9,740,000 |
| 1938 | 22,190,000 |
| 1938-D | 5,537,000 |
| 1938-S | 8,090,000 |
| 1939 | 67,740,000 |
| 1939-D | 24,394,000 |
| 1939-S | 10,540,000 |
| 1940 | 65,350,000 |
| 1940-D | 21,198,000 |
| 1940-S | 21,560,000 |
| 1941 | 175,090,000 |
| 1941-D | 45,634,000 |
| 1941-S | 43,090,000 |
| 1942 | 205,410,000 |
| 1942-D | 60,740,000 |
| 1942-S | 49,300,000 |
| 1943 | 191,710,000 |
| 1943-D | 71,949,000 |
| 1943-S | 60,400,000 |
| 1944 | 231,410,000 |
| 1944-D | 62,224,000 |
| 1944-S | 49,490,000 |
| 1945 | 159,130,000 |
| 1945-D | 40,245,000 |
| 1945-S | 41,290,000 |
Silver Dimes Value Chart
Source: MercuryDime.net