1916-S Mercury Dime
Circulation strike struck at the San Francisco Mint · 10,450,000 made
- Mintage
- 10,450,000
- Metal
- 90% silver, 10% copper
- Weight
- 2.5 g
- Diameter
- 17.9 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1916-S Mercury Dime worth?
In worn condition it trades for about its silver content, 0.0723 troy ounces. Uncirculated coins with full luster or attractive toning sell for more.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- A die variety or minting error
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1916-S Mercury Dime rare?
- Not by date: 10 million were struck. A sharp uncirculated coin or a known variety is what makes one special.
- Is the 1916-S Mercury Dime silver?
- Yes. It's 90% silver, 10% copper and holds 0.0723 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1916 Mercury Dime?
- On the reverse, to the left of the base of the fasces. Philadelphia dimes have no mint mark. On this coin the mark is S, for San Francisco.
- Which San Francisco dates near 1916 are scarcer?
- The 1919-S at 8,850,000. So the 1916-S is on the scarcer side for those years.
- How many 1916-S Mercury Dime coins were made?
- 10,450,000.
What to check on your 1916-S
- Make sure the mint mark really is an S. A worn or filled mark can be misread. It's what separates your coin from the 1916-D (264,000 made).
- Don't clean it. Cleaning leaves fine scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors avoid.
- Judge the grade under good light. Look at the hair above Liberty's forehead and the bands across the fasces. Fully split, rounded center bands ("Full Bands") bring large premiums.
Circulated examples are usually traded for their silver content. Pick out the best ones: original luster and attractive toning lift a coin above melt, while cleaned coins lose most of their collector value.
The story of the 1916-S
1916 was the first year of the Mercury Dime. San Francisco struck 10,450,000 of them. In 1917 the figure was 27 million.
1916-D came to 264,000 and 1916 came to 22 million, so neither mint's 1916 coin is much scarcer than the other.
Across San Francisco's 25 Mercury Dime issues, the hardest to find is the 1926-S with 1,520,000 made. The 1916-S is one of the easier ones. Within the 1910s it's 5th smallest of 12, between the 1919-D (9.9 million) and the 1918-S (19 million).
1916: a new dime and the Denver key (1916)
Adolph A. Weinman's Winged Liberty Head dime replaced Charles Barber's design in 1916, one of three new silver designs that year. Striking began at Philadelphia late that summer, but makers of vending machines and pay telephones soon complained that the first coins gave trouble in their equipment, largely because of a raised fin at the rim. Weinman lowered the relief and pulled LIBERTY away from the edge. The revised dime reached the public on October 30, 1916.
All three mints struck the new design. Philadelphia made 22,180,080 and San Francisco 10,450,000, but Denver turned out only 264,000. The usual explanation is that Denver was busy with quarters. Its first delivery of dimes was not made until December 29, so the 1916-D only reached circulation in 1917. Few were saved, most survivors are well worn and it is the key to the series. It is also one of the most counterfeited US coins, usually by adding a D to a genuine Philadelphia dime of the same year.
If you have a 1916 dime, the mint mark decides almost everything. Look on the reverse at the lower left of the fasces. No letter means Philadelphia, S means San Francisco and only a D means the key. Check any D under magnification for a seam around its edges or a shape that sits oddly in the field. Even a worn genuine 1916-D carries a collector premium, while the 1916 and 1916-S are ordinary first-year coins.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1916
A new generation of silver designs arrived: the Mercury dime, the Standing Liberty quarter and the Walking Liberty half dollar. The first Standing Liberty quarters were struck in very small numbers late in the year.
How to recognize it
Weinman's Liberty faces left in a close-fitting Phrygian cap with small wings, which he meant as a symbol of liberty of thought, not a portrait of the god Mercury. LIBERTY arcs over her head, IN GOD WE TRUST sits in small letters below her chin at the lower left and the date is at the lower right. His AW monogram appears between the date and the Y of LIBERTY. The reverse shows a fasces, a bundle of rods wrapped around an ax blade and tied with bands, with an olive branch for peace curling around it. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA runs along the top, ONE DIME across the bottom and E PLURIBUS UNUM at the right. The mint mark, when there is one, sits at the lower left of the fasces. The coin is 17.9 mm across with a reeded edge.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Mercury Dime (1916–1945) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Mint | San Francisco Mint |
| Mint mark | "S" |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 10,450,000 |
| Face value | 10¢ |
| Composition | 90% silver, 10% copper |
| Weight | 2.5 grams |
| Diameter | 17.9 mm |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Silver content | 0.0723 troy oz (2.250 g) |
| Designer | Adolph A. Weinman |
Other 1916 Mercury Dime issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1916 Mercury Dime | 22,180,080 | Circulation strike | 0.0723 oz |
| 1916-D Mercury Dime | 264,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0723 oz |
| 1916-S Mercury Dime | 10,450,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0723 oz |
Mintage: US Mint records as published in standard references, each figure checked against at least two independent sources. How we build these pages.