1917-D Mercury Dime
Circulation strike struck at the Denver Mint · 9,402,000 made
- Mintage
- 9,402,000
- Metal
- 90% silver, 10% copper
- Weight
- 2.5 g
- Diameter
- 17.9 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1917-D Mercury Dime worth?
In worn condition it trades for about its silver content, 0.0723 troy ounces. Uncirculated coins with full luster or attractive toning sell for more.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- A die variety or minting error
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1917-D Mercury Dime rare?
- Not by date: 9.4 million were struck. A sharp uncirculated coin or a known variety is what makes one special.
- Is the 1917-D Mercury Dime silver?
- Yes. It's 90% silver, 10% copper and holds 0.0723 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1917 Mercury Dime?
- On the reverse, to the left of the base of the fasces. Philadelphia dimes have no mint mark. On this coin the mark is D, for Denver.
- Which Denver dates near 1917 are scarcer?
- The 1916-D at 264,000, the 1921-D at 1,080,000. So the 1917-D is on the scarcer side for those years.
- How many 1917-D Mercury Dime coins were made?
- 9,402,000.
What to check on your 1917-D
- Make sure the mint mark really is a D. A worn or filled mark can be misread. It's what separates your coin from the 1917-S (27 million made).
- Don't clean it. Cleaning leaves fine scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors avoid.
- Judge the grade under good light. Look at the hair above Liberty's forehead and the bands across the fasces. Fully split, rounded center bands ("Full Bands") bring large premiums.
Circulated examples are usually traded for their silver content. Pick out the best ones: original luster and attractive toning lift a coin above melt, while cleaned coins lose most of their collector value.
The story of the 1917-D
Denver ramped up hard in 1917: 9,402,000 coins, about 36 times the 1916 run. In 1918 the figure was 23 million.
The other mints made far more that year: 1917 alone came to 55 million, roughly 5.9 for every 1917-D. That makes the 1917-D the scarcer 1917 coin, though still a common one.
Across Denver's 25 Mercury Dime issues, the hardest to find is the 1916-D with 264,000 made. The 1917-D is on the scarcer side of the middle. Within the 1910s it's 3rd smallest of 12, between the 1919-S (8.8 million) and the 1919-D (9.9 million).
War years and heavy output (1917 to 1920)
With the United States drawn into the First World War, demand for small change jumped. The three mints struck 307,166,800 Mercury dimes dated 1917 to 1920, with Philadelphia alone producing 55,230,000 in 1917 and 59,030,000 in 1920. Denver and San Francisco each added between about 8.8 and 27.3 million a year. The smallest figure of the era is the 1919-S at 8,850,000, still a big number by the standards of the 1920s. The 1917-D, at 9,402,000, is a little scarcer than its neighbors in better grades.
None of these dates is scarce in worn condition, but quality is another matter. Branch mint dimes from these years are often softly struck, with flat hair above the forehead, a weak date and indistinct bands across the fasces. The 1919-D and 1919-S are famous for this. An uncirculated example with fully split center bands earns a collector premium far beyond that of an ordinary coin of the same date. Philadelphia coins of the period usually come better struck.
Most coins you'll find from this era are worn to Good or Very Good, with the date still readable but the wing feathers flattened. Read the date first, then the mint mark. A weak strike can leave a D or an S faint, so tilt the coin under a light until the letter shows its full outline. Silver dimes like these stayed in pocket change until the 1960s, so most of them saw decades of use.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1917
The Standing Liberty quarter was redesigned to cover Liberty with chain mail. The mint mark on the Walking Liberty half dollar moved from the obverse to the reverse.
How to recognize it
Weinman's Liberty faces left in a close-fitting Phrygian cap with small wings, which he meant as a symbol of liberty of thought, not a portrait of the god Mercury. LIBERTY arcs over her head, IN GOD WE TRUST sits in small letters below her chin at the lower left and the date is at the lower right. His AW monogram appears between the date and the Y of LIBERTY. The reverse shows a fasces, a bundle of rods wrapped around an ax blade and tied with bands, with an olive branch for peace curling around it. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA runs along the top, ONE DIME across the bottom and E PLURIBUS UNUM at the right. The mint mark, when there is one, sits at the lower left of the fasces. The coin is 17.9 mm across with a reeded edge.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Mercury Dime (1916–1945) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Mint | Denver Mint |
| Mint mark | "D" |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 9,402,000 |
| Face value | 10¢ |
| Composition | 90% silver, 10% copper |
| Weight | 2.5 grams |
| Diameter | 17.9 mm |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Silver content | 0.0723 troy oz (2.250 g) |
| Designer | Adolph A. Weinman |
Other 1917 Mercury Dime issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1917 Mercury Dime | 55,230,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0723 oz |
| 1917-D Mercury Dime | 9,402,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0723 oz |
| 1917-S Mercury Dime | 27,330,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0723 oz |
Mintage: US Mint records as published in standard references, each figure checked against at least two independent sources. How we build these pages.