POLL: As a kid, do you recall seeing Mercury dimes in general circulation?

Dave99B · October 1, 2015 2:49PM

Just wonding if I'm the only one!

And I'm not talking seeing a stray one or two over a lifetime ..... I'm talking seeing them fairly routinely, in general circulation.

Dave

BustHalfBrian · October 1, 2015 2:53PM

No, but I'm a millennial.

TigersFan2 · October 1, 2015 2:56PM

I'm not old enough to have seen them in circulation. But I was born around the time our great country changed from silver to clad coinage. Around the time I was born, my parents filled a piggy bank with coins (pennies, nickels and dimes). The piggy bank sat on the shelf until I was about 10 and a few years into collecting coins. So since the piggy bank was filled around my birth, I go to keep the coins and put them into my collection. The dimes were mostly silver Roosevelt dimes with around 9 Mercury dimes. So this means that during the mid-1960s, there were still some Mercury dimes in circulation.

Dave99B · October 1, 2015 3:12PM

I was born in '56, in the Seattle area.

As best I can recall, I would say I got interested in collecting around age 9, just about the time we were moving from silver to clad.

It was an interesting era, from a collecting standpoint. A massive change was underway.

I'd go to the bank with my dad and he'd pick up a few roll of dimes that I would sift through at home. Seems like I'd pull out four or five Mercs from every roll...they were that common. I routinely got them in change as well.

Then .... in what seemed like just a few years, they all just disappeared, along with their lowly sidekick, the silver Roosy. Poof!

Dave

TopographicOceans · October 1, 2015 3:22PM

Sure - how do you think my old blue Whitman Mercury dime album got filled?

mariner67 · October 1, 2015 3:40PM

Yes, I remember having some Mercs in change frequently.

howards · October 1, 2015 5:53PM

Often.

Also, IHC, buffs, V-nickels, SLQ, Walkers, even a small amount of Barber coinage.

Treashunt · October 1, 2015 7:30PM

They were common, as were Buffalo nickels & war nickels.

Plus the far less common Barber

I did get one V-nickel, one Barber dime and a Barber quarter

The quarter on my paper route

PerryHall · October 1, 2015 7:47PM

I used to see buffalo nickels, Mercury dimes, Standing Liberty quarters, and Walkeing Liberty halves all the time in change before they started disappearing after 1964 when LBJ debased our coinage. Morgan and Peace silver dollars rarely circulated in the east but you could get all that you wanted from the back at face value.

ms70 · October 1, 2015 7:52PM

Back in the early 60's they were still floating around.

Bayard1908 · October 1, 2015 7:53PM

I am 50 years old and never saw a Mercury dime in circulation. Whenever I find one while metal detecting, I feel like I have discovered evidence of another world that no longer exists.

Twobitcollector · October 1, 2015 7:59PM

Yes

SaorAlba · October 1, 2015 8:15PM

I find them in roll searches occasionally, but I came along well after they dropped out of general circulation.

kaz · October 1, 2015 8:23PM

Remember then well. My father would save his silver change in a quart size jar shaped like a bear. I remember trying to pick that up around age 5 or 6; man it was heavy! My friends and I would sometimes find a SLQ in circulation; we thought the bird on the back was a dove!

oih82w8 · October 1, 2015 9:41PM

Not any as a child, being born with the 40% Kennedy, but I did find two Mercs in one roll a couple of months ago.

etexmike · October 1, 2015 9:46PM

<< I used to see buffalo nickels, Mercury dimes, Standing Liberty quarters, and Walking Liberty halves all the time in change before they started disappearing after 1964 when LBJ debased our coinage. >>

I was 10 years old in '64 and remember finding all of these types in change from time to time.

Mike

ricko · October 1, 2015 9:49PM

They were very common in change when I was a kid....as were all silver coinage. Cheers, RickO

Tibor · October 1, 2015 9:53PM

When I was an altar boy in the early 60's the priest would let me search through
the collection each Sunday and trade my allowance ($2.00) for coins I needed.
The Merc's were not plentyful but after a year or so I got within 15 of a complete
set. The book 1 Lincolns the same as with Buff's and Walkers. In my early 30's
I finished the Whitman folders except for the 1916-D; still have not pulled the
trigger for that one.

ambro51 · October 1, 2015 9:59PM

Ugly and a lot from the teens worn as thin as washers

291fifth · October 1, 2015 10:10PM

Mercury dimes were very commonly found in circulation until the withdrawal, by hoarding, of the 90% silver coinage in the late 1960's.

GotTheBug · October 1, 2015 10:23PM

.

MonsterCoinz · October 1, 2015 11:27PM

Nope. I wonder if silver dollars were a common occurrence?

LanLord · October 1, 2015 11:30PM

Yes, I recall seeing Mercs, not as often as the Roosys, but in a handful of dimes there would always be one or two.

pitboss · October 1, 2015 11:38PM

I was born in 1939 so the even indian head cents were common as well back then.

Jinx86 · October 2, 2015 12:57AM

As a kid in the '90's Ive only ever got a few Silver Roosevelts never any Mercs.

ebaytrader · October 2, 2015 1:07AM

<< Nope. I wonder if silver dollars were a common occurrence? >>

Not in the 60's. Walkers and Franklins were generally the highest denom of circ coinage you'd come across and both were common though a Peace dollar might be a Christmas tip for the paperboy.

My cousin pulled a 1916 Standing Lib 25¢ from the milk money tray at school in the 50's. He got nice payday on that score. He knew to look for dates as his dad was a collector and president of the local coin club.

As a kid I helped my brother sell newspapers on the corner on weekends in the mid to late 60s. We were usually done by about 1pm on Sunday and a couple of men would stop by to redeem clad for silver from our weekend take. Mercury dimes were common until the late 60's, but people realized the implications and were pulling the 90% from circulation very quickly. There wasn't much 90% circulating after 1970.

I also remember seeing a First National Bank of Detroit $5 in circulation.

MFH · October 2, 2015 1:34AM

<< Back in the early 60's they were still floating around. >>

LOL... Back in the Early 1960's, I'd find AU Barber Dimes in rolls.

claychaser · October 2, 2015 1:51AM

Yes. When I started in coins when the clad "Johnson's play money" coins came out. Up to then, mercs were commonly found along with walkers, war nickels and of course silver dollars. I have memories of going to the local market (the pre 7-11 days) and with a silver quarter purchasing a small bottle of soda and a candy bar and getting some cents, often wheats, back min change. Then we turned in the bottles for another 2 cents and usually got 2 penny candies, or a box of salty "punkin" seeds with that.

Come to think of that, that silver quarter is worth about $2.00 today - can you buy the same amount of stuff at 7-11 with that?

newnotes · October 2, 2015 2:05AM

I put a box (4"x4"x4") of coins away in my dresser in the early 60's. I got drafted in 1964. Got home two years later and went looking for the box of coins a few months later when I overheard some guys talking about coins. Couldn't find it. I asked my Mother about it and she knew nothing about it. After tearing the house apart my sister broke down and admitted that she and one of her friends would come to the house after school and take enough for a couple of cokes. Included in the mix were ten "V" nickels that a guy in the school lunch line one day was going to use to pay for his lunch. He had taken them from his fathers stash of coins. I traded for them. " Everything that goes around comes around".

LindeDad · October 2, 2015 2:15AM

They were the newer ones then.

Dave99B · October 2, 2015 3:30AM

I saw a guy pay for a pack of cigs at a gas station about 20 years ago … he plunked down a pocket full of change on the counter, and the cashier slowing counted it out – most of it was dimes and nickels. I was standing behind him, and I noticed about 10 of the nickels were well-worn Buffalos. I honestly could not believe my eyes. I'm thinking 'What the ....?' As the guy walked out the door, I asked the cashier if I could take a closer look, and I offered to buy the nickels. He said ‘nope’. He had already dropped the Buffs in small box under the regular till.

golden · October 2, 2015 5:03AM

<< They were very common in change when I was a kid....as were all silver coinage. Cheers, RickO >>

johnny9434 · October 2, 2015 5:16AM

yes, i recall seeing them in circulation through the years. i have not seen them in quite some time though.

VanHalen · October 2, 2015 5:19AM

Wouldn't you need to be 65 plus to answer yes to this question? Or at least 60 with a really good memory?

giorgio11 · October 2, 2015 5:24AM

Yep, as Mike Hayes says above, you could still find the occasional well-worn Barber dime in circulation when I was a kid (born in 1949), SLQs were common enough that it was a push whether to keep them or not. Walking Liberty halves were my favorite then, by far, but I liked the Mercurys a lot too.

Best Regards,

George

ebaybuyer · October 2, 2015 5:40AM

my father had a paper route in the 50's he has told me a few times how any coins he received that were "out of the ordinary" he wanted to quickly get rid of... way to go dad.

AUandAG · October 2, 2015 6:00AM

I do remember Morgans, Walkers, Mercs, Buffs and an occasional Indian Head in circulation when
I was younger. Some reason I do not remember Standing Lib quarters although i'm sure it is
just a lapse of the old brain cells.
bob

mr1931S · October 2, 2015 6:01AM

Yes,in the early '60's Mercury dimes were frequently seen along with Walking Liberty halves. Morgan and Peace Dollars could be obtained at the bank by asking for them. Standing Liberty Quarters were seldom seen and usually worn slick.

I received a Barber coin in change in 1971. It's a 1911 dime,VF condition,that I still have.

Boosibri · October 2, 2015 6:16AM

Too young.

Kaline6 · October 2, 2015 6:39AM

<< Wouldn't you need to be 65 plus to answer yes to this question? Or at least 60 with a really good memory? >>

I'm 59 and I remember plenty of Mercs, as well as Walking Libertys (as common as Franklins at that time--and halves circulated, too!) but I never saw any Barber coinage in circulation, and only one V-nickel. Common to see dateless Buffalos but not Indian cents. Standing Liberty quarters were infrequent but did come along from time to time, much less often than Mercs.

My folks would bring me back a few silver dollars when they went to Las Vegas.

I think if I had been 4 years younger I would have missed it. I still have Danscos filled from circulation--when we were kids, it would have been considered "cheating" to fill a hole by buying a coin. (Trading was OK though.)

BillJones · October 2, 2015 6:41AM

I saw them right up to the time dealers started paying a little over face value for silver coins as a speculation move, circa 1968.

TopographicOceans · October 2, 2015 7:02AM

A few folks here saw Barber dimes in circulation

PTVETTER · October 2, 2015 7:31AM

I just wanted to share a story about this subject:

A few years ago I was having lunch with the TOP mercury dime collector.
During that time we shared a story about our early collecting days. Both of us pulled these out of cirulation and cleaned them with an eraser, and put them in those blue whitman folders. Funny about that small connection.

I will remember that day with a great friend for a long time.

PS before that he pulled a new upgrade to his collection and showed it to me.
Sure was nice seeing a 1926-S in MS67FB

BillJones · October 2, 2015 7:37AM

<< A few folks here saw Barber dimes in circulation

>>

I heard stories about this when I was a child, but I never saw any of them. The closest I ever got was a Barber half dollar a classmate brought to class as lunch money when I was in the 5th grade. I got it for face value, which was not a rip-off in early 1960. It was in Good and listed in the Blue Book for face value.

cladking · October 2, 2015 7:50AM

In 1957 when I started the mercs outnumbered the new-fangled Roosies by a
comfortable margin (~60/ 40). This area was a little slow at the time so new
releases weren't seen right away. In those days the FED still handled the bulk
of the coinage and they didn't rotate their stocks so there were anomalies.

The better dates and higher grades were long gone from circulation but you
could still find XF/AU common dates and some better date culls. This is why
I don't believe many '16-D's had their mint marks worn off; by the time they
had this amount of wear most had been pulled from circulation by collectors.

By 1964 there was a bland sameness to the few surviving mercs. They were
mostly later dates in F/ VF or older heavily worn coins. Even minor "finds" had
become improbable.

1940coupe · October 2, 2015 8:32AM

when my mom gave me lunch money for school which was under a dollar in those days if she had old money in her change she gave it to me! standing quarters,mercury dimes it was up to me weather i spent it for lunch! i usually did with out on those days

ProofArtworkonCircs · October 2, 2015 10:37AM

<<A few folks here saw Barber dimes in circulation >>

I was one of them. I remember a bigger thrill when I got my first new Roosevelt dime.

As I remember it, some Mercuries were in circulation until the very end of silver circulation.

RareBronzeCollector · October 2, 2015 10:43AM

<< Sure - how do you think my old blue Whitman Mercury dime album got filled? >>

DITTO

crazyhounddog · October 2, 2015 11:11AM

I used to get a Walking Liberty half dollar for my allowance "IF" I did all my chores around the house, my homework, and didn't get in trouble. Mercury dimes, Buffalo nickel's, wheat cents, Franklin's and every now and then a Standing Liberty quarter in change. I had a piggy bank full of Morgan's & Peace dollars. You get the picture. I'm old, I was born in 1951, I'm starting to rust.

TwoSides2aCoin · October 2, 2015 11:36AM

Got tipped on paper route with Mercury dimes and occasionally a Walking Liberty around Christmas time. This was 1967. Still remember my older sister exchanging every silver quarter I'd get collecting the route, for clad quarters. Couldn't figure out what she liked about Washington Quarters. They never really appealed to me then or now.

But , that's the way it was back then. A silver quarter would buy a gallon of gas back in those days when we had gas wars. Now, the value of a silver quarter in exchange for cash will buy a gallon of gas no matter the wars.

Walkerguy21D · October 2, 2015 11:46AM

<< I'm 59 and I remember plenty of Mercs, as well as Walking Libertys (as common as Franklins at that time--and halves circulated, too!) but I never saw any Barber coinage in circulation, and only one V-nickel. Common to see dateless Buffalos but not Indian cents. Standing Liberty quarters were infrequent but did come along from time to time, much less often than Mercs.
My folks would bring me back a few silver dollars when they went to Las Vegas.
I think if I had been 4 years younger I would have missed it. >>

Roger that - I'm just shy of 55, and I never saw much of anything. It was a thrill to get a wheat cent or silver of any kind when I started collecting in
the early '70's.

POLL: As a kid, do you recall seeing Mercury dimes in general circulation?

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