Mercury Dimes > Ch 6 > 1916-D

Posted by David Lange at 9 January, 2005, 4:19 pm. 391 views
Categories: Mercury Dimes * Date by Date

[The following excerpt is published courtesy of DLRC Press and its author, David W. Lange. This information was originally published in 2005 in The Complete Guide to Mercury Dimes]

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MINTAGE: 264,000 (Ranking 1/77)

POPULAR VARIETIES: Two of the four reverse dies known for this rare coin feature repunched mintmarks, but this issue is seldom collected by varieties, due to its high value.  All four reverses are illustrated below primarily as a deterrent against counterfeit and altered pieces.

RARITY: As a natural consequence of its very low mintage for a 20th Century United States coin, this issue has long been celebrated as a rarity.  In fact, only in grades Fine and higher is it really scarce.  Nevertheless, the popularity of 1916-D dimes among date and mint collectors keeps the supply of low grade examples about even with the demand.  Mint State coins are scarce, not rare, and are usually available to the well-heeled.  So too are nearly Mint State, or AU, coins.  The greatest shortfall is within the more widely sought grades of Fine through Extremely Fine.  These are forever on dealers’ want lists.  The PCGS Population Report does not break out the individual totals for grades VG, F and VF, so it is not possible to list these highly desirable grades separately.  At the top end of the spectrum, a mere eight examples have been certified higher than MS-66.  This is in stark contrast to the relatively large number of Philadelphia Mint examples in higher grades.

COMMENTS: 1916-D dimes are nearly always well struck, with many Mint State examples qualifying for full bands status.  Their luster is typically quite good, and the textured fields which are characteristic of the 1916 hub are seen on all coins of this date and mint. As many of the Uncirculated survivors are coins which were set aside as keepsakes by the non-numismatic public and were not well protected, most won’t grade higher than MS-64. Still, gems are available if within one’s budget.

This entire issue was released in the month of November, 1916.1 Coinage of dimes was then halted at Denver so that the presses could be redirected to meeting a sudden and urgent demand for quarter dollars. Before dime coinage could resume, the 1917 dies were on hand and a new year had begun.

The decision to halt dime coinage at the Denver Mint was made at a meeting called by Mint Director F.J.H. von Engelken on November 24, 1916. With him in Washington were the three mint superintendents: Adam M. Joyce of Philadelphia, T.W.H. Shanahan of San Francisco and Thomas W. Annear of the Denver Mint. Also present were New York Assay Office Superintendent Verne M. Bovie and E.D. Hawkins (chief coiner?) of the San Francisco Mint.2 At this meeting it was revealed that the Treasury Department had placed orders with the Mint for some four million quarter dollars. Superintendent Annear was directed to suspend the coinage of all denominations save the quarter dollar and to strike these pieces to the limit of the Denver Mint’s capability.

As the first year of issue, more of these coins were saved in Mint State than would have been the case with an existing design. Thus, the 1916-D Mercury Dime was spared from the otherwise certain fate of being uncollectably rare in this condition. Still, the relatively small number of true coin collectors in the Midwest at that time kept the population of Mint State survivors low.

The key to the Mercury Dime series, the 1916-D has been in demand by collectors in all grades since the mid-1930s. This early awareness of its rarity resulted largely from the introduction of inexpensive coin boards in 1934. These novel collecting tools are described fully in the chapter on collecting Mercury Dimes.

Previously, only established numismatists sought these coins, and their preference was for Mint State examples. The assembling of collections from circulation created a demand even for worn specimens of 1916-D, 1921 and 1921-D. By the end of the 1930s, these three dates typically brought from 50 cents to a dollar in low grades. Mint State examples of the 1916-D were rarely offered, then as now. In what is to the author’s knowledge the earliest comprehensive offering of Uncirculated Mercury Dimes, dealer John R. Stewart of Milwaukee placed an advertisement in the January 1940 issue of The Numismatist selling Uncirculated 1916-D dimes at $9.50. This was in sharp contrast to his price of 85 cents for 1916-P and a mere 60 cents for 1916-S.

The substantial premiums attached to this date have in the past proved too much for the unscrupulous to resist. While outright counterfeits are seldom encountered, perhaps thousands of alterations have been devised by adding a ‘D’ mintmark to genuine but less valuable 1916 dimes of the Philadelphia Mint. Another popular (though less often successful) activity has been the reshaping of the mintmark ‘S’ on San Francisco Mint dimes to resemble the letter ‘D.’ These forgeries are covered in some detail in Chapter 3, while the characteristics of genuine 1916-D dimes are described and illustrated below. Such is the prevalence of altered and counterfeit examples that even those which meet the established criteria for genuineness should be authenticated by a reputable certification service. Uncertified specimens may prove very difficult to sell.


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