I'm not sure many people remember, but before 1964, a Silver Coins' weight was based on the price of silver. When 10c would go to a refinery and you would get 10c in silver. A coin back then was actually worth it's face value compared to its metal value. Nothing like our 1.83c metal weight dimes. If we were to get a $5 coin, it would have to be bigger than a dime, but slightly smaller than a quarter for me to be happy.
Not quite right. The weight was based on the a value of silver of $1.29 an ounce which was about the value in 1873. After that time the value of silver fell considerably. By the 1930's the melt value of the dime was down to two cents or less. (Silver reached a low of 24 cents an ounce, the silver in the dime was worth 1.73 cents.) It didn't reach the ten cent level again until 1963 or 1964. Then in 1965 they switched to clad.
I would drop the denomination. Due to inflation, coins below 25¢ are now only useful for fine-parsing of state and local sales taxes. Mike
I hate to say it because I love them but we need to get rid of the penny. It just makes sense to round to a nickel.
Obverse Completed! I completed the obverse last night with a 'Lady Liberty' design my grandmother had suggested and sketched. I scanned it and scaled it to fit the dime. I am working mostly with a computer in this project. My grandmother and I agreed the reverse should contain a bald eagle, and she will soon be sketching a few. The dime will have Roosevelt Dime-style lettering. Should I do a close up of the bald eagle's head, or should I get it's whole body?
Dime change- 1798, Dime change- 1809, Dime change- 1828, Dime change- 1837, Dime change- 1838, Dime change- 1853, Dime change- 1856, Dime change- 1860, Dime change- 1873, Dime change- 1875, Dime change- 1892, Dime change- 1916, Dime change- 1946, Dime change- 1965.
Lets look at where we have been to see where we should go. 1794 Flowing hair, scary looking girl, not good. Tiny little eagle on reverse, no impressive 1798 Draped bust, pretty but small, bigger eagle still too tiny 1809 Better liberty, more detail. 1837/8 etc all. Liberty seated, way too tiny on a dime, no eagle 1892 Barber liberty, better size to see her 1916 Winged liberty, nice head shot 1946 Dead white guy, generic industrial style I say where we have been shows we need a design just of the head of liberty, hopefully with some artistry. An eagle on the reverse, unless something cool and stylish like a head design, is just too tiny for this coin. I would vote for a modern rendition of a winged liberty, but give the artist complete freedom to create something of beauty representational of liberty, and not have to try to force a whole person or whole bird on such a tiny little coin. Just my opinion. Chris
The dime sort of looks like a liberty head dime, but Liberty looks a bit older. She is also wide. About the reverse: I'm having second thoughts on placing an eagle there. What other things are symbolic of the United States that could be placed on a dime?
A liberty cap was presented to slaves to signify they were free. It was on early American coinage, specifically half and large cents from about 1794 to 1798, (cannot remember exact dates). Its a very historical throwback to early American coinage, that is why I thought of it. Edit: Zach just liked the idea, and I saw his avatar. Yeah, I forgot the liberty cap was also on the seated liberty designs from 1837-1891 as well. I collected SL halves for years, I have no idea how I forgot about that.
