1920 Mercury Dime

1920 Mercury dimes are quite common – in fact, just about as many dimes were made in 1920 as there were dimes made in 1918, when around 90 million Mercury dimes were struck. What does this mean for coin collectors? Specimens in the lowest grades are quite affordable. In fact, it’s possible to score examples of the 1920 Mercury dime in the lowest grades for right around bullion value.

Here’s a breakdown of the mintage figures and Good-4 values for 1920 Mercury dimes:

• 1920, 59,030,000 minted; $4

• 1920-D, 19,171,000; $5

• 1920-S, 13,820,000; $5

While values are quite low for well-circulated pieces, prices ascend significantly for pristine examples. In AU-50, for example, expect to shell out around $15 for a Philadelphia-mint 1920 Mercury dime, and closer to $50 each for the Denver and San Francisco issues. For specimens in MS-63, values jump to around $75 for a Philadelphia issue and a whopping $350 for the 1920 dimes from the Denver and San Francisco mints.

If you’re buying any high-grade Mercury dimes, be sure to do a little extra searching and find pieces with the best strike you can find. As you may know, most Mercury dime aficionados look for something called fully split band (FSB) coins. This refers to the tiny horizontal lines in the bands that wrap the fasces on the reverse of the coin. A premium is usually paid for FSB 1920 Mercury dimes, and FSB Mercury dimes are bound to be the better investment than weakly struck pieces – not to mention look quite beautiful in any coin collection.