1923-S Mercury Dime
Circulation strike struck at the San Francisco Mint · 6,440,000 made
- Mintage
- 6,440,000
- 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 1923-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 1923-S Mercury Dime rare?
- Not by date: 6.4 million were struck. A sharp uncirculated coin or a known variety is what makes one special.
- Is the 1923-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 1923 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 1923 are scarcer?
- The 1926-S at 1,520,000, the 1927-S at 4,770,000, the 1925-S at 5,850,000. So the 1923-S is on the scarcer side for those years.
- How many 1923-S Mercury Dime coins were made?
- 6,440,000.
What to check on your 1923-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 1923 (50 million 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 1923-S
San Francisco hadn't struck the Mercury Dime since 1920. When it came back in 1923, it made 6,440,000. In 1924 the figure was 7.1 million.
The other mint made far more that year: 1923 alone came to 50 million, roughly 7.8 for every 1923-S. That makes the 1923-S the scarcer 1923 coin, though still a common one.
Across San Francisco's 25 Mercury Dime issues, the hardest to find is the 1926-S with 1,520,000 made. The 1923-S is on the scarcer side of the middle. Within the 1920s it's 11th smallest of 25, between the 1925-S (5.8 million) and the 1924-D (6.8 million).
A slump, a missing year and the 1921 semi-keys (1921 to 1925)
After the war the economy turned down and the Mint had plenty of dimes on hand. Silver was also going into Morgan dollars under the Pittman Act. Philadelphia struck just 1,230,000 dimes in 1921 and Denver 1,080,000, down from 59 million and 19 million the year before. San Francisco made none. No dimes at all were struck in 1922, the first year without them in nearly a century.
The 1921 and 1921-D are the semi-keys of the series. Few were set aside when new, so most survivors are heavily worn and uncirculated pieces are scarce. Production resumed in 1923 with 50,130,000 at Philadelphia and 6,440,000 at San Francisco. Denver struck no dimes that year, so a 1923-D Mercury dime is a counterfeit, whatever its condition. From 1924 all three mints were active again, with the branch mints making between about 5.1 and 7.1 million each and Philadelphia about 24 to 26 million.
Even a well-worn 1921 or 1921-D with a readable date carries a collector premium, so a coin with a clear date and full rims deserves a careful look before it goes in a pile of common silver. The branch mint coins of 1924 and 1925 are easy to find in worn grades but are often softly struck, which makes sharp uncirculated pieces with full bands difficult. The 1925-D, at 5,117,000, is the lowest mintage of those years.
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 | 1923 |
| Mint | San Francisco Mint |
| Mint mark | "S" |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 6,440,000 |
| 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 1923 Mercury Dime issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1923 Mercury Dime | 50,130,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0723 oz |
| 1923-S Mercury Dime | 6,440,000 | 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.