Why are dimes smaller in diameter than a modern penny??

I'm trying to understand the historical context that prompted Minters / bureaucrats to make dimes smaller in diameter than even a penny. Sure, if we adjust for inflation back in the day, pennies would be more commonly used to purchase goods and services, as would nickels. So, a larger size would make it easier to handle. Whereas, a smaller coin would make it easier to lose - so then why would we make the dime smaller than a penny and make it easier to lose?

I understand that silver proportions and fixed metals prices would force it to be a certain size... but then why not simply make a bigger nickel round, throw in some silver, and balance it out? And, I get that current nickel and quarter sizes would require the dime to be a size too close to make it easily discernible between those two denominations. But, the penny and nickels could be the exact same diameters and the color difference could be used to differentiate between the two (even if one's colorblind, one would be able to see and read the difference), the dime could be today's nickel size, and higher denominations stay where they're at today.

Anyway, what's the historical context? Unless it was completely by accident or a random, whimsical stroke of the pen (feather?)... was it?

Thanks in advance!

 

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The dime denomination was established in 1796 as 2.7g of 0.892 silver at 19mm and decreased in size slightly a couple times until the fineness was increased to 0.900 in 1837 with a final diameter of 17.9mm.

The cent was established in 1793 as 13.48g of copper with a final diameter of 29mm (flowing hair cents were slightly smaller). By 1796 (the first year of the dime) the cent had been reduced to 10.89g of copper with the diameter kept at 29mm. Small cents with a diameter of 19mm like we use today were not minted until 1856; long after the size of the dime had been established.

To make a dime even slightly larger than a cent in 1796 would have required a coin the size of a half dollar. Even if you alloy it with something like nickel, you would wind up with an expensive to produce, heavy, and very low purity coin that is difficult to remove the precious metal from. It wouldn't have been too popular, especially considering how large the quarter, half dollar, and dollar would then have to be in respect to the dime.

 

Thanks for that info - nice to know.

I'm wondering why they haven't reconsidered the dime's size later in the 19th or in the 20th centuries. The dime seems to have gotten the short end of the stick, like an awkward placeholder between two denominations.

 

Well technically they did a couple times, but the size and weight changes were very small. The final standard for the silver dime was established in 1892 with the Barber dime at 2.5g of 0.900 silver with a diameter of 17.9mm (these were also the specs for the arrows at date seated liberty dime of 1873-1874, but it was only temporary). If they were going to radically change the size of the dime, I think the best opportunity was when switching from silver to clad in 1965, but they wanted to keep the coinage looking as similar as possible so as to not draw attention to the different composition and hopefully prevent silver hoarding.

 

But I'd understand even a small increase, but they went the opposite way.

Which, to me, makes it more perplexing.

 

Studying the history of US coinage will give you the answer. The simple explanation is that a coins size and weight were proportionate to the value of the precious or base metal it contained. In the late 1800's when the final size and weight of silver coins was established the silver half dollar weighed 12.5 grams and consisted of 90% silver and 10% copper. A quarter being equal to half the value of a half dollar would then weigh 6.25 grams of the same composition of 90% silver and 10% copper. A dime being equal to 1/5th the value of a half dollar then weighs 2.5 grams of the same silver/copper alloy. They could have made the dime with a larger diameter, but then it would be very thin and susceptible to bending easily and not hold up to circulation. The original 5 cent coin was made of silver and was called a half dime, which was half the weight of it's bigger brother the dime. The One Cent coin was made from a base metal of copper. The weight of the copper was equal to one cent worth of copper. It too had a smaller sibling the half cent again, weighing half that of it's larger counterpart. As we approached the time period in which the final size and weight of the silver coins, the one cent coin had to be reduced in size to be closer to it's actual melt value of copper. The half dime was discontinued and replaced be the 5 cent piece. This five cent piece was made of a copper nickel alloy that remains the same today. At the time of it's introduction, the base metals of the 5 cent coin were equal to it's face value. So it was of course larger than the dime, which of course was made of precious metal. In short, the coins weight were all related to the value of the metal they were composed of.

In 1965 when we transitioned from silver coinage to the current clad composition. The vending industry essentially forced the US government to produce a coin of similar size and weight as it's predecessor so that it would work in the vending machines of that time. So out of necessity the dime, quarter and half remained the same diameter yet with a slightly lower weight, that fell within the tolerances of the mechanical verifiers of the vending machines of the time. They were not kept the same size to confuse people so that they would not hoard the silver coins. In fact, the government continued minting US silver coins dated 1964 well into 1966. The silver coins were minted right along with the current clad coinage. This was done because the government knew that people would hoard the silver coins. We were already facing a coin shortage during this transition so the government continued to mint the 1964 coins in an attempt to keep up with the rate that the older silver coins were being pulled out of circulation. This was done until the mint was able to produce enough clad coinage to essentially replace all the pulled silver coinage. At that point the transition was complete.

Finally because we are a group of people full of traditions, the current coins have remained the same size they have been for well over 100 years. So to answer your question about why the dime is still so small and the nickel so big? Tradition...

I know that some of you may point out a few flaws in what I wrote, but for the most part, it's fairly accurate.

 

Nicely done, jtlee321! I can tell that you wrote that off the top of your head. You are very knowledgeable. Allow me to tweak your essay, as you suggested.

jtlee321: "At the time of it's introduction, the base metals of the 5 cent coin were equal to it's face value."

Actually, the 5-cent and below were all always just government tokens, until 1965.

While the Half Disme (Half Dime) was, indeed, a precious metal coin, they were (and are) called "minor coinage" because for many years in the 18th and 19th centuries, they were not legal tender beyond some small limit like $3. In fact, four silver Washington Quarters (ten Mercury dimes, etc.), have less pure silver than a Morgan or Peace Dollar.

After 1857, the Nickel 5-Cent Coin, like the Nickel Alloy 1-Cent, Copper Alloy 1-Cent, Copper 2-Cent Coin, and Nickel 3-Cent Coin were all intended to be tokens, only, "subsidiary coinage." Like the other fractional currency coins, they also were not legal tender. That was changed in 1965 when all US government money ("obligations" - including, especially, Federal Reserve Notes) became legal tender.

For another footnote, see the story of the 3-cent coins, both in silver (.750 fine only) and in nickel alloy. Three-cent silvers were intended as a convenience, at best, and were not legal tender. (And the parallel issues of silver, nickel, and paper money in the same denominations certainly calls into question "Gresham's S0-Called Law.")

BTW, the Coinage Act of 1873 ("The Crime of 73) legally demonetized silver and put the United States on a gold standard, along with the UK and Germany.

So, for all of that, jt, thanks for letting me add my two cents.

 

so...it would be like dollar coins going back to the size of ikes?

 

We tend to forget this simple fact. Ah, the good old days of coinage.

 

It used to be silver dummy.

 

But why did they continue to maintain the dime's status quo (for the most part) previous to the 20th century? So far, the most reducible reasoning I can think of is that the dime was required to be composed of silver. That would force the Mint to work within size limitations. But then I wonder why the dime would be required to be in silver - too valuable back then to be made of anything else?

 

lol yes, but why was it required to be silver if it meant that the size had to be smaller than a penny? Too valuable to be anything else for that denomination? The 3-cent silver pieces are tiny and weak, and eventually discontinued. Dimes aren't as tiny, but the Mint and public should have had a clear reference and precedent by the late 19th century to compare sizes with, right? Yet, they decided to keep using silver in dimes.

The simplest end form would be if, say, a war nickel would make a good dime size and silver composition (even if you increased it to 40-50% silver), a nickel as a modern penny size, and a penny as today's dime size.

Perhaps silver was used to keep with tradition and not upset the public with what may have been thought of then as too much change.

 

Keep in mind the 3 cent piece was created more for the USPS stamp than commerce. IIRC

 

I used the 3 cent piece example to point out that small silver coins should have been known "in the flesh" to be cumbersome to handle for everyday transactions, relatively speaking. Unless, of course, the 3 cent pieces were more exclusive to the USPS and not as widely available to the public.

 

Because a Dime's worth of copper was too big a coin. That remained true until 1965.

Now we are culturally acclimated to certain coin sizes, we have broad based applications of machinery designed to deal with them at their size, and it'd be way too much hassle to change now.

 

How about silver clad?

 

Infrastructure dedicated to that coin size. The size of the coin won't change because of special Proof cladding on some examples.

 

Kid 1 to younger Kid 2 just before school lunch: I'll give you these three nickels for those two dimes. See? The nickels are BIGGER and you get THREE of them!

 

@iPen you have to realize that back when the 3 cent piece and other silver coins were circulating, they were accepted at their face value because of the silver they contained. Even as @kaparthy said, the "Crime of '73" or demonitization of silver, people still accepted the fact that the coin containing silver had value. The demonitization simply meant that the public could no longer bring silver bullion to the mint and have it converted to legal tender coinage. Silver is and always has been a precious metal. The reason that the US Government minted silver and nickel 3 cent pieces along side each other is the fact that public out here in the west would not accept a debased coin, where as the public on the east coast were more open to the idea. It's still fairly true to this day. There are a lot of people who say that the only true money is made of gold and silver, everything else is an empty promise.

The reason the dime was still made of silver was due to it's purchasing power. A dime could buy quite a bit in daily commerce, so it's size was very convenient. Having to haul around a very large coin made of base metal would be fairly inconvenient. The half dollar at the time was fairly heavily used, it was comparable to what a $20.00 bill is today.

I used to wonder myself why the dime was so small. It wasn't until I learned about the history of our coinage, that I now understand it's current size. The current sizes will remain what they are simply because of tradition and all the coin accepting machines from coin counters to vending machines would have to be changed out to accommodate a change in coinage. Who will pay for all these changes? Certainly not the government nor the manufactures and owners of all these machines. We are at a stalemate. The only way anything will change is if we change our currency from the dollar to some other form of acceptable money. That is not happening anytime soon.

 

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