Winged head Liberty is the correct term. As the messenger of the gods, Mercury had wings on his feet, never on his head. People who did not know any better gave it this name. The wings on the head were supposed to represent freedom of thought, not the god Mercury.
' Its the difference between being correct and being understood. It is commonly understood what a Mercury dime is even if it is not the official, or technically correct, term. If you are misunderstood it doesn't matter that you are correct. It is good to be reminded that our common terminology has to be learned, that the common usage is not automatically understood, and to be aware and patient with those who are either uninformed or insist on being correct. Thanks for asking.
Point of order, sir. Mercury is, indeed, depicted with wings on his head quite frequently, in the form of a winged helmet : From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winged_helmet (Bold emphasis mine) : If one looks, you'll fine a great many depictions of Mercury bearing a winged helmet (All images copyright their respective owners, used without permission): Mercury Investment Properties FTD Florists Mercury Healthcare even Mercury Automobiles (This from the original Mercury Marauder logo) You are certainly correct...the depiction on the obverse of the coin is, indeed, a winged liberty head...but it is not at all surprising that it came to be known as a Mercury dime. The portrait is virtually indistinguishable from many depictions of the Messenger of the Gods.
Good post sir. I guess I was referring to ancient depictions of Mercury. You are correct there are many modern ones, but as far as I remember ancient roman coins had wings on the feet, not the head, (yes I know the roman name for him was different). I do not remember an ancient depiction of mercury with wings on his helmet, though I could very well be wrong. Thank you for your post correcting me. Chris
A gracious follow up post indeed, Chris. A REALLY don't mean to bust your chops here, but... From http://www.beastcoins.com/RomanRepublican/Republican.htm Roma, not Mercury, admittedly...but clearly the symbology of the winged helmet dates at least that far back.
