Mercury Winged Liberty Head 1942 Dime United States Silver Coin Fasces i44891

Item: i44891

 Authentic Coin of:

United States of America
Mercury or Winged Liberty Head Dime
Silver Dime 18mm (2.49 grams) This coin is 90% silver, and 10%
copper. Philadelphia mint
LIBERTY IN GOD WE TRUST 1942,  –
Head of Mercury or Lady Liberty, wearing winged cap.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE DIME, 
– bundle
of rods, with battle-ax, known as “Fasces”, and symbolical of unity, wherein
lies the nation’s strength, and an olive branch, a
symbol for peace; E PLURIBUS UNUM
“out of many, one” in field to right.

A beautiful coin illustrating
true U.S. Constitutional currency which defined the dollar as a quantity of
silver. What is interesting to note is that United States of America coins,
which were dimes, quarters, half dollars and dollars were made of silver until
1964 as per the mandate of the 1792 Coinage Act. The advantage of currency
backed by precious metals being a medium of exchange that maintains and perhaps
even gains buying power over time. There was little or no inflation when the
ideals of the founding fathers were followed. The idea of paper money was a
piece of paper which was exchangeable for coins at any time. It allowed you to
easily transport your money without having to carry the weight of the gold
silver and non-precious metal USA coins.

Article I, Section. 10 of
U.S. Constitution

“No State shall enter into any
Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin
Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin as Tender
in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law
impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.”

It is also interesting to note
that silver is an industrial metal and supplies are being used up at rapid
rates. Silver coins were placed in jugs of water as per it’s anti-microbial
properties. Also when cows were milked, many used or still use silver pails to
catch the milk. Silver is also used in electronics as it is non-corrosive.
Another interesting thing was that at times in history, American people were
actually able to bring their silver to the U.S. mint and get silver coins in
exchange.

The great idea of money is for
it to be plentiful to allow for easy exchange. You see, contrary to popular
belief, US money, even with the 1792 Coinage Act did have what may be described
as fiat, or coins of non-precious metal. The 1 Cent or Penny Coins were made of
copper and the 5 Cent or Nickel coins were made of nickel. However, the
brilliant thing is that the copper and nickel coins were exchangeable for silver
and gold coins. So because of this, there was gold and silver backing, in effect
for the copper and nickel coins. So the amazing thing is that there was
plentiful money, which was issued constantly and did not bear any interest for
it’s use.

So in conclusion, money is an
interesting topic of discussion and study. It can both free and enslave and
there is a lot of good in all types of systems. What is also amazing is that the
money of the United States has the words “In God We Trust”. This makes this
phrase the most written phrase in existence. The more we love people and use
money as a tool for their benefit, the better the world is becoming. We live in
an amazing time and world where we are connected via the internet and where the
best ideas are winning.

Two great documentary films to
watch on this topic is Money Masters and The Secret of Oz.

You are bidding on the exact

Guarantee of Authenticity.

The Mercury dime
is a
ten-cent coinn
struck by the
United States Mint
from 1916 to 1945. Designed
by
Adolph Weinman
and also referred to as the
Winged Liberty Head dime, it gained its common name as the obverse depiction
of a young
Liberty
, identifiable by her winged
Phrygian cap
, was confused with the Roman god
Mercury
. Weinman is believed to have used Elsie
Stevens, the wife of lawyer and poet
Wallace Stevens
, as a model. The coin’s
reverse
depicts a
fasces
, symbolizing unity and strength, and
an olive branch
, signifying peace.

By 1916, the
dime, quarter, and half dollar
designed by Mint
Chief Engraver
Charles E. Barber
had been struck for 25 years,
and could be replaced by the
Treasury
, of which the Mint is a part, without
Congressional
authorization. Mint officials
were under the misapprehension that the designs had to be changed, and held a
competition among three sculptors, in which Barber, who had been in his position
for 36 years, also took part. Weinman’s designs for the dime and half dollar
were selected.

Although the new coin’s design was admired for its beauty, the Mint made
modifications to it upon learning that vending machine manufacturers were having
difficulties making the new dime work in their devices. The coin continued to be
minted until 1945, when the Treasury ordered that a new design, featuring
recently deceased president
Franklin Roosevelt
take its place.

Mercury is a major Roman god, being one of the Dii Consentes within the
ancient Roman pantheon. He is the patron god of financial gain, commerce,
eloquence (and thus poetry), messages/communication (including divination),
travelers, boundaries, luck, trickery and thieves; he is also the guide of souls
to the underworld. He was considered the son of Maia and Jupiter in Roman
mythology. His name is possibly related to the Latin word merx (“merchandise”;
compare merchant, commerce, etc.),mercari (to trade), and merces (wages). In his
earliest forms, he appears to have been related to the Etruscan deity Turms,
with characteristics and mythology subsequently borrowed from the analogous
Greek god, Hermes. Latin writers rewrote Hermes’ myths and substituted his name
with that of Mercury. However, there are at least two myths that involve Mercury
that are Roman in origin. In Virgil’s Aeneid, Mercury reminds Aeneas of his
mission to found the city of Rome. In Ovid’s Fasti, Mercury is assigned to
escort the nymph Larunda to the underworld. Mercury, however, fell in love with
Larunda and made love to her on the way. Larunda thereby became mother to two
children, referred to as the Lares, invisible household gods.

Mercury has influenced the name of many things in a variety of scientific
fields, such as the planet Mercury, and the element mercury. The
word mercurial is commonly used to refer to something or someone erratic,
volatile or unstable, derived from Mercury’s swift flights from place to place.
He is often depicted holding the caduceus in his left hand.

Fasces is a bound
bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe with its blade emerging. The
fasces had its origin in the
Etruscan civilization
, and was passed on to
ancient Rome
, where it symbolized a
magistrate’s

power
and
jurisdiction
. The image has survived as a
representation of magisterial or collective power. Fasces frequently occurs as a
charge
in
heraldry
, as well as on the US dime, as the
symbol of a number of Italian socialist parties, including the
Unione Sindacale Italiana
, and the namesake of
fascism
.

It should not be confused with the related term,

fess, which in
French heraldry
is called a fasce.

Theeee Coinage Act
 or the Mint Act, passed by the
United States Congress
on April 2, 1792,
established the
United States Mint
and regulated the coinage of
the United States. The long title of the legislation is An act establishing a
mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States. This act established
the silver
dollar
as the unit of money in the United
States, declared it to be lawful tender, and created a
decimal
system for U.S. currency.

By the Act, the Mint was to be situated at the
seat of government
of the United States. The
five original officers of the U.S. Mint were a Director, an Assayer, a Chief
Coiner, an Engraver, and a
Treasurer
(not the same as the
Secretary of the Treasury
). The Act allowed
that one person could perform the functions of Chief Coiner and Engraver. The
Assayer, Chief Coiner and Treasurer were required to post a $10,000 bond with
the Secretary of the Treasury.

Although some of the provisions in the 1792 Coinage Act were adjusted as time
went by, the majority of the rules specified in this Act remained in effect for
many decades. Essentially, it provided the basic framework on which all
subsequent coinage production was based. While the first draft of the Act
stipulated that all coins would employ a portrait of the president on the
obverse, the final version called for an image emblematic of liberty. The Act
also authorized construction of a
mint building in Philadelphia
, the nation’s
capital. This was the first federal building erected under the
United States Constitution
. Mint director
David Rittenhouse
laid the building’s
cornerstone
on July 31.

On May 8, 1792 An Act to Provide For a Copper Coinage was signed into
law by President
George Washington
. This legislation resulted in
the birth of the copper cent, from which descends today’s one cent piece. The
Act also stipulated that “the director of the mint… be authorized to contract
for and purchase a quantity of copper, not exceeding one hundred and fifty
tons… to be coined at the mint into cents and half-cents… and be paid into
the treasury of the United States, thence to issue into circulation.”
Furthermore, “no copper coins or pieces whatsoever except the said cents and
half-cents, shall pass current as money, or shall be paid, or offered to be paid
or received in payment for any debt, demand, claims, matter or thing
whatsoever.”

Effects

Merchants and bankers were reluctant to bring silver bullion to the Mint
because the disclosure of the illegal silver standard that was previously in
effect. The silver coinage of 1794 and 1795 employed a 0.900 fine standard
instead of the 0.8924+ standard (317.25/416=0.89242788461) as prescribed in the
Mint Act of April 2, 1792 (Heritage Coin Auction #390, Vol III, p. 117). The
most immediate effect of this practice was that depositors ended up paying an
addition 2.5 grams of silver bullion (about 10% extra) for every dollar they
received (Taxay, 1966, p. 89). When this became widely known, bullion deposits
brought to the mint declined significantly in 1796 and 1797.

Authorization
and free coinage

The Act authorized production of the following coins:

The coins were to contain the following markings:

• One side was to have an impression emblematic of liberty, with the
  inscription “Liberty”, and the year of the coinage.
• The reverse side of each of the gold and silver coins was to have the
  figure or representation of an eagle with the inscription “UNITED
  STATES OF AMERICA.”
• The reverse of the copper coins was to have an inscription expressing
  the denomination.

The Act defined the proportional value of gold and silver as 15 units of pure
silver to 1 unit of pure gold. Standard gold was defined as 11 parts pure gold
to one part alloy composed of silver and copper. Standard silver was defined as
1485 parts pure silver to 179 parts copper alloy. The Act also specified the
dollar as the “money of account” of the United States, and directed that all
accounts of the federal government be kept in dollars, “dismes“,
cents
, and “milles“,
a mille being one-tenth of a cent or one-thousandth of a dollar. The silver
content of a dollar under this act was almost exactly equal to ¹/₅
of the silver content of the contemporary British
pound sterling
, or 4 British shillings.

Under
Sec.14
, any person could bring gold or silver
bullion and have it coined free of charge, or later for a small fee, exchange it
immediately for an equivalent value of coin. The paragraph summary states:
“Persons may bring gold and silver bullion, to be coined free of expense;”

Quality control
measures were implemented in
that from each separate mass of gold or silver used to produce coins, three
coins were set aside by the treasurer. Each year on the last Monday in July,
under the inspection of the
Chief Justice
, the Secretary and Comptroller of
the Treasury, the
Secretary of State
, and the
Attorney General
, the coins were to be
assayed
and if the coins did not meet
established standards, the officers were disqualified from office. The meetings
later became formalized as the
United States Assay Commission
, which continued
meeting until it was disbanded in 1980.

Section 19 of the Act established a penalty of death for debasing the gold or
silver coins authorized by the Act, or embezzlement of the metals for those
coins, by officers or employees of the mint; this section of the Act apparently
remains in effect and would, in theory, continue to apply in the case of “any of
the gold or silver coins which shall be struck or coined at the said mint.” (At
present the only gold or silver coins struck by the US mint are the
American Silver Eagle
and the
American Gold Eagle
coins, some
Proof coinage
at the
San Francisco Mint
, such as the silver
US State Quarters
, and much of the
Commemorative coinage of the United States
.)
All other sections of the act have been superseded, as for example the
Coinage Act of 1834
changing the silver-to-gold
weight ratio. Various acts have subsequently been passed affecting the amount
and type of metal in U. S. coins, so that today there is no legal definition of
the term “dollar” to be found in U. S. statute. Current statutes regulating
coinage in the United States may be found in
Title 31 of the United States Code
.

See also

• Coinage Act of 1834
• Coinage Act of 1849
• Coinage Act of 1857
• Coinage Act of 1864
• Coinage Act of 1873
• Coinage Act of 1965
• Mill (currency)