Coin and Paper Money Collecting/1936 mercury dime

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Expert: - 11/25/2008


Question
I have an old 1936 mercury dime, facing left, I would guess is in good condition.
how much is it worth, is it worth keeping?

Answer

42Mercury
Hello Charles,         

Thanks for selecting me for your answer.

Nobody throws away money. It seems to continue to change hands and be stored away. Although you might not realize it there are many millions of these 90% Silver Winged Liberty Head dimes around.

The majorities have been well circulated and are in low grades and therefore less valuable.

The Winged Liberty Head Dime has its mint mark on the reverse at the bottom of the Faces and to the right, after the "E" in the word ONE. If there is no letter there it is a Philadelphia Mint Coin.

Coins are valued on a scale from 1 to 70. And on how rare a coin is. With no or little experience it is sometimes easier letting a collector look at them, and many coin shops will help for free on small collections.
 
In each series of coin type (Mercury Dime etc.) there are some quick reference points of wear to be seen on the high points that are known to show wear first.

Most of these are covered in the RED BOOK. If you can borrow a copy it will help. The grading it describes at the start of each coin series is taken from the American Numismatic Association Standard. And uses the 1 to 70 scale recognized by all professionals since the 1970's.

Most circulated coins range from Good (grade-G4) to Almost Uncirculated (grade-AU50) on the scale.

So a grading term of GOOD that you used in your question is only a 4 out of a possible 70 points is a very low grade.

Although all dates may not be common, there are more specimens in Lower Grades - grade 4 to Grade 20, than there are in grades 40 (Extremely Fine) to Mint State Grades 60 to 70).
So the lower grades are much more common than high grade examples of this coin.

Good condition about $1 to $2 dollars,
Fine condition about $2.00 to $3.00 dollars,  
Extremely Fine condition $7.00 to $10 and in
Almost Uncirculated condition for $10 to $20
Only the 1916-D Mercury dime will be very valuable. It trades form $500 to $6,500 in circulated grades.

If the coin is Uncirculated or has very little wear there would be a demand for it and the price can vary greatly.

Glad I could help. If you like the design, you can still buy mint state coins from the 1940 to 1945 date range for about $4.00 each.

It is a beautiful design developed by a sculptor (A.A. Weinman) not the US Mint Staff. I have included an image for comparison of your coin.

If you need any assistance, information or clarification on this answer feel free to ask another question.

Please remember to rate this answer.

Good Luck

PapaJack
    Questioner's Rating
    Rating(1-10)Knowledgeability = 10Clarity of Response = 10Politeness = 10
    CommentThank you PAPAJACK, you've been extremely helpful and I enjoyed your response. I will definitely refer anyone with questions of this sort to you expediously. Min. Mann


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PAPAJACK

Expertise

Knowledge of United States Coins from 1793 to date. Able to answer most common numismatic questions. Collected U.S. Coins from half cent to 50 dollar gold coins.

Experience

QUALITY CONTROL
United States Coin COLLECTOR/DEALER OVER 20 YEARS, U.S. COINS Worked trade shows,
EXPERT Consulting since 1990, Knowledge of all methods of fabrication used in the industry.
Hobbies:US notes, clocks, cars, computers, coins, leisure activity and crafts to name a few.

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