Wow, I've never found a merc, ever. Been lookin for 40+ years. I did find a 1961 Roosevelt yesterday. I did a little dance.
They sure are... my boss picked up a '21 Morgan at the local convenience store a few weeks ago. The last silver I got was the merc that's my avatar.. about a year ago now.
Sure. Things are picking up. I noticed that, too. Unfortunately, unemployment at around 9% has a tendency to do that. Gardens (veggie seed and plant sales) are on the upswing, too, I read, for the same reason...
I love the jefferson nickel series. It's one of the very few series that can be collected in its entirety from pocket change. Congrats to the OP on his find!
The only thing that I miss about working retail is the cash register and being able to pull anything I found that was interesting. The amount of coin that passes through a retail store almost rivals that of roll searchers!