Modeled after Elsie Stevens, wife of the poet Wallace Stevens and a tenant of a New York City apartment house owned by the sculptor, Adolph Weinman’s portrayal of Liberty on the dime wears a Phrygian cap, a soft, somewhat conical device that became known as a symbol of freedom. The cap also displays a small wing on the facing side. Together, the image represents freedom from bondage, specifically freedom of thought. However, this dime is almost universally known as the Mercury dime. The Roman god Mercury (analogous to the Greek god Hermes) was a deity of trade and commerce, the messenger of the gods who traveled swiftly between tasks via the wings on his hat and shoes. Though Mercury’s hat was a hard, brimmed piece worn by a male god, those details were overwhelmed by the symbolic wing.
Representing power and authority, the fasces on the reverse dates back possibly to Etruscan times and was later adopted as a symbol by the Roman Republic. The bundle of rods implies strength through unity (many rods being much stronger than a single rod), with the axe denoting authority, particularly the power over life and death.
It is on the fasces that a key aspect of the collectibility of the Mercury Dime can be found.
Mercury Dimes with Full Bands (FB)/Full Split Bands are not especially rare but are preferred by collectors. The key date 1916-D Mercury Dime, which has a lower Mint State survival rate than any other date in the series, is more frequently found with Full Split Bands than without, while the 1918-S, the 1919-S, the 1926-S, the 1927-D, and the 1927-S are tougher dates to find fully articulated strikes.
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