SEARCHING FOR ONE MERCURY DIME TYPE COIN

Introduction

I have fond memories of my maternal grandmother, May Rohlfs, taking shiny Mercury dimes from her small red change purse in the late 1960s to give her young grandson for his budding coin collection. I remember May's smile when I expressed awe at first examining these tiny coins.

I've read several books and numerous articles about Mercury Dimes. I previously owned a beautiful 1921 Mercury Dime NGC AU58 that I purchased on e-bay from Harbor Coin Company in Winthrop Harbor, IL in 2006. I sold this coin to purchase a high-grade early copper half cent in 2015.

I am continuing to collect the most well-struck and my favorite U.S. type coins for my collection. I began with locating a Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle - 1923-D NGC MS 65*. My next focus is a 1939-D Mercury Dime. Then I will move onto a Buffalo Nickel, Walking Liberty Half Dollar and a Morgan Dollar.

Conducting Research

After considering various alternatives, I decided to pursue a high-grade Mercury Dime with full bands. I ended up targeting 1939-D specimens. My favorite reference for researching this series is The Complete Guide to Mercury Dimes, 2nd Edition, by David Lange, published in 2005. There, Lange writes "This issue [1939-D] is the quintessential type coin, being perhaps the most consistently attractive Mercury Dime in the entire series. [The] 1939-D has graced many a high- grade type set, including the famous Knoxville collection." (p. 176). The date of 1939 also made me reflect on the start of World War II and other events in world history that year.

Before perusing dealer websites for a 1939-D dime, I read through informative Mercury dime threads on the PCGS and NGC Message Boards. I found a number of auction catalog and numismatic periodical listings for the 1939-D Mercury dime on the Newman Numismatic Portal. It was also instructive to read through NGC and PCGS Price Guides and auction archives.

Making the Purchase

I noticed the price jumps significantly for the 1939-D dime between MS66 FB and MS67 FB. After examining over 60 1939-D specimens in the MS 64-69 FB range, I decided to narrow my search to a 1939-D Mercury dime in MS66 FB. I finally chose a 1939-D Mercury Dime NGC MS66 FB from Northeast Numismatics in Concord, MA. This lovely coin arrived in the mail today (2/12/20). I was thrilled to have a Mercury dime with shimmering luster! It looks like it was minted yesterday instead of 81 years ago.

Note: Chris Clements of Northeast Numismatics kindly provided obverse and reverse images of my Mercury dime to accompany this article.

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