Seated Liberty (1837-91)

The dime is a coin with a face value of ten cents, or one-tenth of a United States dollar. The dime has the smallest diameter and smallest thickness of all U.S. coins currently minted for circulation. Former President Franklin D. more...

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Roosevelt is featured on the obverse while a torch, oak branch, and olive branch are featured on the reverse.

Mintage of the dime was authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792, and production began in 1796. A feminine head representing Liberty was used on the front of the coin and an eagle was used on the back. The front and back of the dime used these motifs for three different designs through 1837. From 1837 to 1891, "Seated Liberty" dimes were issued, which featured Liberty seated next to a shield. In 1892, a feminine head of Liberty returned to the dime and was known as a "Barber dime" (named for coin designer Charles E. Barber.) The backs of both of the latter two designs featured the words "ONE DIME" enclosed in a various wreathes. In 1916, the head of a winged-capped Liberty was put on the dime and is commonly known by the misnomer of "Mercury dime"; the back featured a fasces. The most recent design change was in 1946, when the current design was adopted.

The composition and diameter of the dime has changed throughout its mintage. Initially the dime was 19 millimeters wide, but it was changed to its present size of 17.91 millimeters in 1828. The composition (initially 89.24 percent silver and 10.76 percent copper) remained constant until 1837, when it was altered to 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper. Dimes with this composition were minted until 1966. Beginning in 1965, dimes also began to be minted with a clad composition of cupronickel; this composition is still in use today.

The term 'dime' comes from the French word disme (modern French spelling dîme), meaning "tithe" or "tenth part," from the Latin decima . This term appeared on early pattern coins, but was not used on any dimes until 1837.

General history

The first known proposal for a decimal-based coinage system in the United States was made in 1783 by Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and David Rittenhouse. Hamilton, the nation's first Secretary of the Treasury, recommended the issuance of six such coins in 1791, in a report to Congress. Among the six was a silver coin, "which shall be, in weight and value, one tenth part of a silver unit or dollar." His suggested name for the new coin was a "tenth."

The Coinage Act of 1792, passed on April 2, 1792, authorized the mintage of a "disme," one-tenth the silver weight and value of a dollar. The composition of the dime was set at 89.24 percent silver and 10.76 percent copper. In 1792, a limited number of dismes were minted but never circulated. Some of these were struck in copper, indicating that the 1792 dismes were in fact pattern coins. The first dimes minted for circulation did not appear until 1796, due to a lack of demand for the coin and to production problems at the United States Mint.

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