1942-D Mercury Dime

The story of the 1942-D

Denver made 60,740,000 in 1942, up from 46 million in 1941. In 1943 the figure was 72 million.

1942-S came to 49 million and 1942 came to 205 million, so neither mint's 1942 coin is much scarcer than the other.

Across Denver's 25 Mercury Dime issues, the hardest to find is the 1916-D with 264,000 made. The 1942-D is one of the easier ones. Within the 1940s it's 10th smallest of 18, between the 1943-S (60 million) and the 1944-D (62 million).

More on the 1942-D

Denver's 60,740,000 dimes of 1942 were the most that mint had struck in a single year up to then. The ordinary coin is very common. Hidden in the total is the 1942/1-D overdate, made the same way as the better-known Philadelphia variety but much fainter. The first published report did not appear until November 1960, eighteen years after it was struck.

If you're checking a 1942-D, look for faint traces of a 1 inside the lower part of the final 2 and doubling in the 4. The underlying digit is much harder to see than on the Philadelphia coin, so good light and at least ten times magnification help. Because no one was looking for it, most Denver overdates circulated for years before they were noticed. Uncirculated ones are among the leading condition rarities of the series. For the regular 1942-D, full-band uncirculated pieces bring a small premium over worn coins, which trade at metal value.

Wartime records, the overdates and the last year (1942 to 1945)

World War II pushed dime production to record levels. Philadelphia struck 205,410,000 in 1942 and 231,410,000 in 1944, the highest mintage of the series. The three mints together made 1,223,928,000 Mercury dimes dated 1942 to 1945. Even the smallest issue of the era, the 1945-D, came to 40,245,000. Unlike the nickel, the dime kept its 90% silver alloy throughout the war.

The famous 1942/1 overdates belong here. One working die at Philadelphia and one at Denver received an impression from a 1941 hub and then another from a 1942 hub, leaving traces of a 1 under the final 2. The Philadelphia coin was found in circulation and reported in 1943. It is the bolder of the two. The Denver version is fainter and was not reported in print until 1960. Both are included in their regular mintages and carry a significant premium. Proof dimes ended with 22,329 struck in 1942 and proof coinage stopped for the rest of the war.

After President Franklin Roosevelt died in April 1945, the Treasury chose the dime for his portrait and the Mercury design ended with the 1945 coins. Two things to check on the late dates: the 1945 Philadelphia dime is very common but rarely found with fully split bands. The 1945-S comes with a normal S or a much smaller Micro S, made with a punch first cut for coins struck for the Philippines.

Elsewhere in US coinage in 1942

Nickel was needed for the war, so from October 1942 the five-cent coin was struck in an alloy of copper, silver and manganese. These war nickels carry a large mint mark above Monticello, the first use of a "P" mint mark.