Mercury Dime....the good one

Hi all,
The other day I went to my bank to turn in some searched halves. One of my tellers handed me a whole roll of dimes and says, "My customer brought this in and said that she realized they were silver but wanted to exchange them for a roll of modern clad for her business". Being the nice woman she is, she saved them for me. Later that night I opened them to find that all but 3 were silver. 13 mercs, 34 Roosevelts and 3 clad all told. I looked them over a bit and this very worn mercury dime was in there. It appears to me to be a 1916. I most definitely has a mint mark making it either an S or a D. My question is how the heck do I tell the difference. I mean, it looks like a S but could possibly be a D but worn down. Are there any other ways to tell the difference? I don't think I can get a better picture with my phone.
Thank you in advance.
Steve

 

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The shape of the upper left of the mint mark and it's positioning look promising. Looking at it in hand would be a lot easier. I think it might be a good candidate to send to PCGS or NGC to get it authenticated.

This is all based on the images provided. A lot could have happened to that area of the dime to make it look the way it does. With that said I'd give it a shot.

 

With the understanding that it can be difficult, I would suggest you try to provide the forum with better images.

 

It looks like an "S" to me. The upper right of a "D" should be curving downward. This looks like the serif is pointing upward.

Chris

 

hmm lets blow that up.

 

Pure Acetone will not hurt it if you did a soak and it might draw out some definition on the mint mark. But use as last resort I say

 

Not sure if these are better, but I will try tomorrow with better lighting conditions. Thank you again.

 

Looking at your images, I'm leaning towards the S.

 

It's a "S". Sorry.

 

I'll hazard a guess also as the back seems too rounded. But still, have it checked out further. Maybe even someone with a microscope. But like has been said, do not attempt to clean until you have exhausted other options first. Best of luck to you.

 

Yes... and now I'd say the chances of it being the hoped for D to be exceedingly slim at best, unfortunately.

 

I hope you gave the teller something for thinking of you. Even if the 16 is an S you had a good day.

 

My first instinct was S. It's 40-1 against it being a D. Then I wasn't sure.
But I think I see what Chris was saying about the top right S serif, and I believe
it is an S.

 

I do take care of the tellers at banks I go to. That particular day they received a nice hot pizza.

 

Look at the little 'lip' top right.
It is an S.
Sorry

 

It is an "S".

You can put it aside and keep looking at it. I've done it.

But it will still be an "S".

I would save the cost of grading.

 

Definitely an S.

 

I agree with the "S" replies...

But what also got my attention was the extreme wear on the coin. I LOVE looking at and having old AG or Poor (so long as some design is left) coins like this - remembers me of the time in the 1960s when as a kid some of the coins I found in circulation had this much wear (one was also a 1916 dime that is almost a twin of yours with the wear amount - but unfortunately NO mintmark present) - I have an entire album page devoted to coins (of all denominations) worn like this, and I still get a buzz looking at them troday...

 

I remember the first time as a young kid I found a 1916 in circulation, turned it over and saw a letter and my heart about stopped...of course it was an "S"