1939 Mercury Dime

Of all the coins produced by the US Mint over the years, few are more popular in the eyes of collectors than the Mercury Dime. The US Mint was founded in the latter stages of the 18^th century, and since then has been producing some of the finest coinage the world has seen. Thanks to this, those coins produced by the US Mint are highly sought after by collectors.

With regard to the Mercury Dime, there are plenty still available for collectors to purchase even though they have not been minted since the early parts of the 20^th century. While this much is true, the biggest problem encountered by collectors is that the coins are often in poor condition as they have been quite heavily circulated. For this reason, you will see people paying top-dollar for those Mercury Dimes that have been kept in great condition throughout their life.

Grading the 1939 Mercury Dime

Coins from 1939 such as the Mercury Dime are sought after by collectors, but the condition that the coin is in matters before anything else. No matter who you are, if you are a coin collector there is no doubting that you would prefer to only add those extremely well-preserved pieces to your collection. Naturally, collection full of well-preserved coins trumps that which is full of inconsistently worn pieces.

Normally, in order to have the condition of a coin such as the 1939 Mercury Dime judged, you would send the coin away to a professional company for grading. Because not everyone has the time and money to send their coins away, you will find that we have provided below an outline describing the characteristics of specific coin grades as to give you a better idea of what certain graded coins might look like.

Uncirculated: By definition, an Uncirculated coin is one that spent no time exchanging hands on the open market and was instead kept in safekeeping throughout its life. Because of this, the coins of this grade will be in near-perfect condition with almost no imperfections whatsoever. Appearing as if they were minted a few weeks ago, these are the most highly sought after types of Mercury Dimes.

Extremely Fine: A coin given this grade is one that spent very little time in circulation. Thanks to the coin having been pulled out of circulation before long, there will be almost no signs of wear and tear present on the faces. Under close inspection, however, you will be able to notice some extremely light wear. Despite this, these coins are extremely valuable in the eyes of collectors.

Fine: A coin that is graded to be Fine is one that saw a lot of time in circulation, but did not incur a lot of damage as a result. These coins will show consistent scratching and some other signs of wear and tear, but the overall integrity of the imagery and inscriptions will have been maintained.

Good: Coins of this grade are, in so many words, the worst of the worst. These coins are the most heavily circulated and are complete with a good amount of damage. These coins are in poor condition, but they are still a great addition to any collection.

Pricing the 1939 Mercury Dime

With regard to the 1939 Mercury Dime, determining a price is as easy as taking into consideration two different aspects of the coin. First, because multiple types of Mercury Dimes were minted every year, the rarity associated with the specific coin type will be the first thing to consider when determining price. Secondly, you will have to assess the condition of the coin because those well-preserved coins are the ones that will sell for the largest amounts. Below is a table aimed at giving you a better idea of what you can expect to pay for a graded 1939 Mercury Dime.

Mercury Dimes

DATE	GOOD	FINE	EXTREMELY FINE	UNCIRCULATED
1939 Mercury Dime	$2.25	$3	$3.25	$6
1939 Mercury Dime (D)	$2.25	$3	$3.25	$6
1939 Mercury Dime (S)	$2.25	$3	$4	$13
Source: Red Book