Yeah, I'm really THAT new to collecting coins. But I just thought I'd share because I'm so excited that I finally have one! It may look brown-ish, but it's just the lighting. (Sorry for the bad pics)
The Liberty Head or Mercury Dime is a beautiful coin. There are plenty more where that one comes from.
That excitement will never end. I been collecting almost fifty years and I still get giddy when I get a new coin. Great dime!
Welcome to the wonderful world of coin collecting. The Winged Liberty (popularly known as the Mercury Dime, despite the fact that the god Mercury's wings were located on his ankle) is widely held to be one of our more beautiful designs. Also welcome to Coin Talk. You will find most folks welcoming and helpful. You can do your part by narrowing down the scope of your question so that those that want to help don't have to write a novel. Also, it helps with photos to take it straight on, not at an angle. Otherwise there is nothing wrong with your photo. If you are using your smartphone to take pictures, place your phone on a stack of sturdy books to hold it steady and at 90 degrees to the coin and put the phone control on a delayed shutter so it doesn't move by the action of your hand. If you are utterly new to US coin collecting, then immediately go to Amazon or the like and buy a version of the Red Book. Various versions of the Red Book can be had from as little as $13 (spiral bound small version) to $50 or less (Mega Red Book, 7th edition, the latest). It will answer many of your questions about the coins from colonial times to today.
Nice Dime! Mercury (and his Greek counterpart Hermes) was depicted wearing winged hats in addition to the winged shoes. On this dime, though, it's Lady Liberty wearing a winged hat (Winged Liberty) that is not the same kind of hat that the gods wore.
PS I recently posted a thread on Mercury Dimes. I have a complete lower grade set and I went through a number of Mercury Dimes that a bought a number of years ago. The thread I posted I put together from junk coins and I lot that I bought. I ended up filling another Whitman’s album except for the 1916-D. I can post photos if you want but it’s not that difficult to do with the exception of a few dates.
Here you go. I didn’t want to hijack your thread. Like I said its a nice lower grade set that I assembled fairly cheaply. I just have to buy the 1916-D, in low grade to plug that hole. Holes drive me nuts. May you be able to do the same.
By the way, I have been collecting for about two years, so I am kind of new. I don't have the Red Book yet, but I plan to soon. I do have some other coin books though. Thanks for the info!
Be careful with those Mercury dimes. If you look at enough of them you'll begin to obsess over them. Believe me, I should know! It is a lovely dime and I wish you many more!
