[Ads-l] Mercury dime

Bill Mullins amcombill at HOTMAIL.COM
Fri Jul 10 21:38:48 UTC 2020


>From 1916 to 1945, the U.S. Mint issued ten-cent coins with the image of a personified Liberty, wearing a winged Phrygian cap.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_dime#/media/File:1943D_Mercury_Dime_obverse.jpg
The cap was a symbol of freedom, and the wings in particular symbolized freedom of thought.  The image was popularly mistaken as being the god Mercury, though, and the coins came to be called "Mercury dimes", a phrase with no entry in the OED.

1935 [U.S. copyright application for book titled] _Mercury Dime Collector_ 14 Aug

1935 Appleton WI _Post-Crescent_ 7 Oct 7/5
"The Lincoln head card has places for pennies of this type from 1909 to the present time, the Buffalo nickel card runs from 1913 to the present time, the Liberty head nickel card from 1883 to the present, and the mercury dime card from 1916 to the present."

1949 Portland ME _Portland Press Herald Magazine_ 29 May 12/2
"Adolph A. Weinman of New York designed the Mercury dime and also the half dollar in circulation from 1916 through 1947."

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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