Dime

The first proposal for the decimal currency issue in the United States was made in 1783 by Thomas Jefferson , Benjamin Franklin , Alexander Hamilton and David Rittenhouse. Hamilton, the first secretary of the national treasury, in his report to Congress , proposed the issuance of six of these coins in 1791. Among these six coins was a silver coin, "which was supposed to be one tenth of a silver weight or dollar in weight and value." He proposed calling the new coin “the tenth.” ^[2]

The Monetary Act, issued on April 2, 1792, allowed the release of "disme" in 1/10 of the silver weight and nominal value of the dollar. The composition of disme was approved in 89.24% silver and 10.76% copper. In 1792, a limited number of disme were minted, but they never entered public circulation. Some of these coins were minted from copper, which indicated that the coins of 1792 were actually coin samples. The first dimes put into circulation did not appear until 1796 due to the lack of applications for coins and production problems of the United States mint. ^[one]

Initially, the dime, now referred to as the “Draped Bust” (that is, with a covered bust), had no marks indicating the face value of the coin. The next type of coin - “Capped Bust” (with the image on the obverse of a woman symbolizing Freedom in the Phrygian cap ) began to be minted in 1809. On these coins was the mark “10 C.”. Initially, diving was not constant, the “Draped Bust” was not issued in 1799 and 1806, and the “Capped Bust” dime between 1809 and 1820 was only released in 1809, 1811, 1814 and 1820. Since 1827, dime was minted almost every year, but in some years in small print runs. ^[3]

In 1837, a new type of dime was released - with the image of Liberty sitting on the obverse. At the same time, changes were made in the diameter of the dime and the silver content. 54-seated Freedom Dime was the largest time span for any design. In 2001, this peculiar record of duration exceeded the dime with the image of Roosevelt (in 2001, the “Roosevelt dime” lasted 55 years).

From 1892 to 1916, the barber dime was minted. Of particular note is the 1894 — S Barber Dime (minted at the San Francisco Mint), as it is one of the most expensive coins in the world. In total, in the San Francisco Mint in 1894 (as evidenced by the letter “S” on the reverse), 24 barber dimes of the “proof” state were minted. Of these, only 9. is currently known. The head of the San Francisco Mint ordered the minting of such a rare circulation of coins. Of these, he gave his daughter 3 copies and said to keep until she reaches his age, and then sell. On the way home to one of the coins, she bought herself an ice cream. This instance is known as English. Ice Cream Specimen . She sold the remaining 2 coins in 1950 ^[4] .

In 2007, the 1894 — S Barber dime was sold to an anonymous collector for $ 1.9 million ^[5] . On March 7, 2005, one of these coins was sold at auction for $ 1.3 million. ^[6]

The barber design dime was replaced in 1916 by the Freedom image with wings on its head, better known as the Mercury dime. The image on the obverse of the dime was often mistaken for the Roman god Mercury , but in fact it was a drawing of Liberty (all other dimes, except for the dime with a portrait of Roosevelt, also depicted Freedom). Mercury dime is considered one of the most attractive among all US coins and is highly regarded by collectors. ^[7]

The Mercury dime was replaced in 1946 by Roosevelt dime with an image in honor of President Franklin D. Roosevelt , who died in April 1945. The image of Roosevelt was placed on a 10-cent coin, in connection with his contribution to the establishment of the National Patient Care Fund polio , which at first half-jokingly, and then officially called the “March of Dimes”. Mass mailing of letters to the population “Donate dime” ^[8] led to the emergence of this term. In 1965, after the abolition of the silver standard, 10-cent coins began to be minted from a copper-nickel alloy (like coins of a quarter dollar a, since 1971 and half a dollar ) ^[9] . Roosevelt's clad dime is currently in circulation, and no significant changes in coin design are planned. In 2003, Congressional Republicans attempted to replace Roosevelt’s image with President Ronald Reagan , but this idea was not developed. ^[ten]

The ribbed edges of the modern daim are left over from earlier coin designs. They were made ribbed with gold and silver coins to protect them from fakes and scammers, who sawed off the edges with a file, and then sold the shavings of precious metal. Currently, coins are not issued from precious metal. Nevertheless, ribbed faces continue to be used at present in the minting of coins of great denomination - this is done for people with impaired vision, which determines the coins by touch. There are 118 faces in modern daima. ^[eleven]

Since 1796, six different basic types have been produced. The name of each type indicates the design of the obverse dime, with the exception of Barber dime.

• “Draped Bust” (with a bust covered with clothes) in 1796–1807
• “Capped Bust” (bust with a covered head) in 1809–1837
• Seated Liberty (Seated Liberty), 1837–1891
• Barbera in 1892–1916
• Freedom with wings on the head (Mercury) in 1916–1945.
• Roosevelt 1946 - present.

From 1796 to 1837, dimes consisted of 89.24% silver and 10.76% copper, since it was required that the intrinsic value of coins not exceed their face value . ^[11] The composition was slightly changed in 1837 with the release of the diving "Sitting Freedom" - in it the silver content was increased to 90%, and copper was reduced to 10%. To maintain the intrinsic value of the new dime, its diameter was changed from 18.8 mm to its current size of 17.9 mm. ^[12]

With the release of the Monetary Act of 1965, silver content in dimes was excluded. From 1965 to the present, dimes consist of 75% copper and 25% nickel. Since 1992, the United States Mint has launched the annual release of sets of silver coins, which include dimes with a standard composition until 1965 from 90% silver and 10% copper. These sets are intended exclusively for collectors and do not include circulation in cash flow. ^[12]

• Chasing Money in the USA