The United States Mint today published images of the 2016-W Mercury Dime Centennial 1/10 Ounce Gold Coin. The agency also unveiled the coin’s mintage of 125,000 and its household ordering limit of 10 coins.
Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the silver 1916 Mercury dime and featuring Adolph A. Weinman’s original Winged Liberty design, the centennial 24-karat gold coin will launch at noon Eastern Time on April 21.
Later in the year, the U.S. Mint will also release centennial editions of the Standing Liberty quarter and the Walking Liberty half-dollar. (See mock-ups of these gold coins.)
Obverses of the centennial 2016 Mercury dime offer a portrait of Liberty facing left, wearing a winged cap, with the inscriptions LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST, 2016 and AW for Weinman’s initials.
Reverses feature a Roman fasces and an olive branch, symbolizing America’s military readiness and desire for peace. Inscriptions around the design include UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, E PLURIBUS UNUM, AU 24K, 1/10 oz., ONE DIME, and W to denote its production at the U.S. Mint facility in West Point, New York.
Its one-tenth ounce weight is symbolic of the coin’s denomination of one dime. The U.S. Mint emulated other specifications of the original dime, like the business or circulation strike finish, but exact matches were impossible because of the gold piece’s 99.99% fineness. Here’s a table comparing specifications between the original dime and the centennial dime:
| 1916 Mercury Dime | 2016 Centennial Mercury Gold Dime | |
|---|---|---|
| Composition | 90% silver and 10% copper | 99.99% Gold |
| Weight | 0.07234 troy oz. (2.50 grams) | 0.1000 troy oz. (3.110 grams) |
| Diameter | 17.9 mm (0.705 inch) | 16.50 mm (0.650 inch) |
| Thickness | 1.35 mm (0.053 inch) | 1.19 mm (0.047 inch) |
| Edge | Reeded | Reeded |
In 2008, the U.S. Mint struck fractional sizes of American Buffalo gold coins in collector qualities of proof and uncirculated. Specifications of the gold Mercury dime match those of the smallest 2008-W $5 American Buffalo Gold Coins. In another comparison, they have the same diameter but are a tad thinner (0.047 inches vs. 0.049 inches) and lighter (3.110 grams vs. 3.393 grams) than the one-tenth ounce American Gold Eagles.
Each coin ships encapsulated and hand packaged in a custom-designed, black-matte hardwood presentation case and is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. They will be sold on the U.S. Mint’s website, right here.
A pricing matrix for the 2016 centennial gold coins should soon be published. The prices can change weekly depending on the market value of gold.
There will be no silver editions of the 100-year-old coins. The U.S. Mint has the authority to produce collector gold coins but is limited by law when it comes to striking silver coins.
