Dime (U.S. coin)
A dime is a coin minted by the United States with a denomination of 1/10th of a United States dollar or ten cents.
| Dime (United States)
|
| Value:
| 0.10 US dollars
|
| Mass:
| 2.268 g
|
| Diameter:
| 17.91 mm
|
| Thickness:
| 1.35 mm
|
| Edge:
| 118 reeds
|
| Composition:
| 91.67% Cu, 8.33% Ni
|
| Obverse
|
|
|
| Design:
| Franklin Roosevelt
|
| Designer:
| 1946
|
| Reverse
|
|
|
| Design:
| torch, oak branch,
olive branch
|
| Designer:
| 1946
|
In colloquial language, the word dime usually refers only to the ten-cent coin rather than to the quantity of money; one would not normally call two separate five-cent coins taken together a "dime". The word is not merely colloquial, but also official, and appears on the coin itself. The coins in the USA and Canada are similar to each other, and are physically the smallest coins currently produced by either country. While now made of sandwich-like clad layers of nickel and copper, dimes were originally made of 90% silver and 10% copper, the expense of which required the coins to be small enough to prevent melt value being worth more than face value.
The dime is the only U.S. coin minted for circulation that makes no reference to "cent" or "dollar". This omission, along with the fact that it is smaller than the cent and the nickel, often leads to confusion among those unfamiliar with U.S. money. Bearing in mind that the name of the coin comes from the French dixième, meaning one-tenth (of a dollar) can help people remember its value.
Dimes are important to the history of coins in that they were the first coins minted as part of the decimal system that was invented at the inception of the US monetary system.
The design and even the size of the dime has changed over the centuries. The larger sized dimes (which were also a little thinner than today's version) were minted from 1796-1828.
Designs include:
- Draped Bust, Small Eagle 1796-1797
- Draped Bust, Heraldic Eagle 1798-1807
- Capped Bust (Large) 1809-1828
- Capped Bust (Small) 1828-1837
- Seated Liberty (various subtypes) 1837- 1891
- Barber 1892-1916
- Mercury 1916-1945
- Roosevelt (Silver) 1946-1964
- Roosevelt (Clad) 1965-present
The modern dime bears Roosevelt's image partly in commemoration of his efforts for the March of Dimes campaign to fight polio from which Roosevelt suffered.
