Unusual question about a Mercury dime.....not what might be expected.
RogerB
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A few days ago a new correspondent sent the following question. It had a blank 'Subject' field and ended up in the spam box along with a very sincere message from the Assistant Minister of Oil and Gas for Nigeria!
"Sorry to bother you but i have a coin question. i inherited a jar of old shiny dimes and my minister told me that they was mercury dimes. i seen mercury in thermometers and things like that and was wondering how they kept the mercury dimes solid when all the mercury i seen is liquid."
How would you answer this serious question? ....or would you have a double Glenfiddich and skip to the Nigerian letter?
10
Comments
Hmmm, nothing about wanting you to launder 10 million through your bank account and letting you keep half
Steve
Or you could tell him Mercury dimes are liquid as Bullion
Steve
Here's a follow up question:
Answer:
LOL
Mercury mixed with cattle saliva turns it to a metal.
bob
If this wasn't a troll, it certainly should have been.
They only stay solid if kept in a jar made of transparent aluminum
And then Mercury had wings on his feet. But just like dog pooh it's not there anymore.
Tricky situation as IQ levels should at least break into the mid-70's to properly perform as an internet troll...I think your dealing with a moron at the very least here, good luck...
Might just take up the oil and gas offer -- I really do not want to find out how the 'Mercury dime' fellow got my email. (Heck, I sometimes forget it...)
Mercury dime made out of mercury. That's a new one.
It's hard to capitalize when talking to your minister.....
Many of the experimental dies were soaked in mercury (the fluid) overnight, it helped them from a preservation standpoint and they actually lasted a lot longer, which they kept doing. Also a number of the workers on the minting press were unfortunately exposed to the mercury toxins which can be quite deadly. Though it was decades before injury lawsuits gained sway, surviving children and grandchildren of those affected were able to sue due to loss of the affections they would have gotten had they not succumbed to the vapors. Also if you look at the historical price of mercury you can see the price bump when the dimes started to be minted through the end of the 1940s.
It's a new alloy of mercury. When you mix it with copper, it gets harder, right?
I have not laughed that much in a long time. Thanks.
Mercury dimes were flown on the Mercury space project to the planet Mercury.
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Sounds like the kind of question my 97 y.o. mother might ask. I would suggest that you give the person the benefit of the doubt, and treat it as a legitimate serious question worthy of a short but helpful answer.
TD
Mad as a hatter, eh?
"I would suggest that you give the person the benefit of the doubt, and treat it as a legitimate serious question worthy of a short but helpful answer."
Good approach --- but I'll have the scotch first.
It's really just a m\aths question...
The freezing point of mercury (-37.89F) is just about where the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales are identical (-40). So clearly the mercury Mercury dimes were minted at the Barrow mint in the winter. They were, however, all thought to have been melted when they were shipped to the lower 48.
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Those are wonderful explanations .....but I responded with a simple factual comment that should help the writer.
I would not venture a guess as to how to respond to that
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It is not a coincidence that mercury dimes are extremely rare today. Indeed, virtually all are believed to have splattered into non-existence. (It takes only a small impact, like falling onto a concrete sidewalk, to turn solid mercury into liquid.) Today, just about the only mercury dimes remaining are the true mercury ones carefully protected at the Smithsonian, and many more that were accidentally struck in silver. Unfortunately, the only way to know exactly what you have is to drop each coin on the floor. It one of them splatters, it was worth millions!
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Ahhh.....so it is a metaphase of mercury that was cleverly used by the Mint to make money that might literally "run through your fingers."
Many people aren't as "smart" as us coin nerds.
I'd simply explain that the term "Mercury Dime" relates to the depiction of Liberty on the front that is similar to the Roman god Mercury. These dimes were made from 1916 to 1946 and contain about $1.25 worth of silver unless it is a rare date. It is not made of mercury. Do not clean your coins if you are interested in selling. A coin dealer is a potential way to sell your coins if interested.
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That's the first time I have heard that question. Sounds like a legitimate desire to know why the "mercury" is different in the dimes than in his/her experience. A great time to educate rather than humiliate (not that you would try to humiliate, Roger).
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
Already sent a courteous response explaining the name.
Wait.... so what's the CORRECT answer?
The universally correct answer is: "42"
In high school chemistry class we played around with mercury like it was Play-Doh. The teacher didn't seem to mind. Of course, this was in the 1970s.......
Same here, it was elementary school in the '60s.
I recall not too many years ago where a child brought some to school, teacher spotted it, the entire building and hvac was scrubbed.
I did a HS Chemistry class demo on mercury amalgamation of gold and distillation. Got an A+ but had to return the gold button to the lab stores. [For an interesting account of mercury use read the section on the "Patio Process" in my book From Mine to Mint.]
All Mercury dimes are liquid. It's easy to buy and sell them.
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Tell him he's confused and their proper name is "mercurial dime" because they're so small they're hard to nail down.
And like Ahab and MrEureka will tell you they'll just turn to liquid if you try.
Wasn't the world flat until it wasn't?
You can't fool me, young man, it's turtles all the way down.
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Tell him they can only be converted to liquid through the reverse digestive process.
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