The Semi Key 1921 Mercury Dimes

PCGS - Mercury dime enthusiasts regard the famous 1916-D as the grail of the series, a key date coin on par with 20th-century rarities such as the iconic 1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent and 1916 Standing Liberty quarter. And while the 1916-D Mercury dime often steals the proverbial show, the ten-cent coin series that ran from 1916 through 1945 and was designed by Adolph A. Weinman also boasts several other collectible highlights, including the scarce issues struck in 1921.


Mercury dime, 1921 10C, PCGS MS64

Across the board, the coins of 1921 feature relatively low mintages; the exception to that is the Morgan dollar, which was then in its final year of production and, due to a mandate requiring strong output for that coin, siphoned the mintages of the smaller silver coins. Another reason most 1921 United States coins are categorically scarce has much to do with a post-World War I recession that took hold of the country, greatly reducing the need for new coinage in commerce.

The U.S. Mint restricted the striking of Mercury dimes to just the Philadelphia and Denver Mints in 1921, omitting Mercury dimes from the production lineup at the San Francisco Mint and interrupting the usual "P-D-S" trio of coinage that was so common for the various coin series of the 1920s. All told, the United States Mint managed to produce fewer than 2.5 million dimes combined between the Philadelphia and Denver Mints that year, with just 1,230,000 struck at the former and 1,080,000 coming from the latter.

Read the Entire Article