Mercury dimes

Were there Mercury dimes made in the West Point mint? I have heard people say that they did not. I have 2 of them that look like a W mintmark a 36 and a 41. If so, what were the mintage for both years?


-Chuck

 

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No. They first minted coins in 1973 (without mintmarks) while the last Mercury dime was minted in 1945. The "W" you are talking about is the designer's initial Adolph Weinman. It is circled in red on the font of the picture below. The mintmark is on the reverse and circled in green below. (Pictures from Heritage)

 

what RLM said.

And rlm:
That is a beautiful picture of a beautiful coin.

 

That coin would buy a really nice car. Wow.

 

Actually, it is 2 different coins. The obverse is a 1916- and only went for $977. Then I decided to add the reverse. It is the real thing - 65FB and went for $40,250.

 

OH, I'm to late. Could use a few of those for my Albums. :goofer:

 

nice example RLM

 

oh and by the way if you come across any without the W give me a holler!

 

I have some from the designer named Mr. Copy. Name printed right on the coins. :goofer:

 

thank you all. This was very informative.

-Chuck

 

What is the red-rusty stuff called. The coloring is visiable in the upper right of the Mercury dime pictured.

I like the Mercurys and Barber dimes a lot. I just have rolls of Barbers, and a couple thousand Mercury.

 

Most people call it toning although some consider it corrosion. That one is dark enough it is probably getting close to corrosion. If you are interested in the particulars, see http://www.cointalk.com/t45102/#post482153

 

That 'W' still bugs me today. For the first two years of collecting every time I saw a mercury dime I'd think it was a West Point until I remembered how dumb I was. IMO it's worse than the 'VDB' on the 1909 Lincolns. Would it really have been that hard to add both initials and scale it down just a tiny bit? If it were a 'D' or 'S' I can't imagine how confused new collectors would be.