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1936 Mercury Dime, no mint, full bands?
Lith
Posts: 22 ✭
Well, for someone who previously had no interest in American coinage, apart from bullion silver, I'm sure getting interested very quickly. I cannot see the mint mark on this one, but some don't have them and are not rare right? Anyway now I see something about full bands, and it sure looks like this also. So this might have a super high value, well compared to its silver weight?
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Well, it’s circulated, not mint state uncirculated, and the bands are the highest points on the coin that get worn down first. So, even if it was full bands when it was new, the bands got worn down and don’t qualify as full bands.
Mr_Spud
I'm not sure what you're seeing but I'm seeing a well worn 1936 Merc, no mint mark that is worth melt value for the silver. Whether it was FB when it start I can't tell given the wear.
No. FB would be an aspect of a mint state coin. Once it's circulated and worn you can't tell if the bands were fully struck and wore down or were never fully struck in the first place.
Learning #1 - the "bands" are the three horizontal cross pieces on the bundle of reeds that make up the Fasces, not the reeds themselves.
Second - friendly advice - drop the "no mint mark". That's commonly YouTube clickbait.
Since you are here, you clearly aspire to rapidly move beyond the "clueless newbie" phase into "serious collector". (PS: Welcome) Any experienced coin collector knows that the Philadelphia Mint did not put a mintmark on coins until 1980 and has never marked cents except for 2017 to celebrate the 225th anniversary of the founding of the mint.
No mintmark is a valid piece of information ONLY for a small handful of coins that should have had the mintmark but it was left off due to an error in the preparation of the dies. e.g. San Francisco proof coins that should have had a mintmark (S) but didn't.
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
Thanks for trying to help, to clarify what full bands actually means (according to google):
The reverse of the Mercury dime features a fasces, a group of rods held together by bands at the top, center and bottom. To qualify for NGC's Full Bands (FB) designation, the two central bands (seen at the center of the coin) must show full separation (with a recessed area between them).
I did a grade of it myself after flicking through a few pages looks like its 'fine', so yippee its worth at least $2.50 a big win.
What an attitude.
@Lith In case the attitude is misplaced, @BStrauss3 was trying to be helpful, and there is real knowledge in there. You should read it again.
The Full Band "FB" designation is regarding the horizontal bands, and the designation almost always applies most to the center bands, as these are often not fully struck up to a point where they are "rounded and split". I have owned non-Mint State examples of FB coins, but there is a point at about Choice EF where the high-point wear will overcome the striking features, and the probability to determine fully split and rounded bands will become impossible.
Your coin appears to be a nice, natural circulated example of a Philadelphia (no mint-mark) coin minted in 1936. It very well "could" have had FB when it was struck, but determining that now is next to impossible, and not really pertinent to the condition.
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
Welcome—stick around and see how it works.
My sincerity was genuine, maybe it just sounded wrong. But again thanks for the added information.
Yep, I didn't see any 'tude there at all. Keep swinging, you'll hit on something! See you around the board...
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
It appears you are genuinely attempting to learn the ins and outs of this oftentimes confusing hobby. As such, I would suggest you attempt to get your information from numismatic sites such as NGC or PCGS, which both have pages for definitions, grading, images, values, varieties, etc...instead of using Google as your primary source. Google can be great for a lot of things, but my experience with coins is that unless you already know what you are doing you are very likely to be directed to a sketchy site.
Good luck!
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Not entirely accurate.
1942 nickels had P mintmark and so did 1979 SBA dollars.
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Yep...
1942-1945 War Nickels. Although, technically, the purpose wasn't to identify the place of manufacture, but rather to allow them to be removed from circulation and the silver recovered after the war. They just never bothered to do so.
SBAs - forgot about those, although most of us have all but forgotten the entire series of SBA dollars. :-)
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
Get one of these. If you don't have one of these you can't be a coin collector. We colloquially refer to them as Red Books because they're red and they're also books.