The feathers made the hat look like Mercury’s winged helmet.
It was officially called the Winged Liberty Dime, but people mistook Miss Liberty for the Roman god Mercury due to the wings on her Phrygian cap. But in 1944, the Dime in use was the Mercury Dime. Today’s Roosevelt Dime was introduced in 1946 to honor the recent death of FDR, the 32 nd US President. This has happened to lots of silver coins when spot prices spiked. Basically, if the coin was larger, it would be more valuable in its molten form, tempting people to melt it for profit. Because of its high silver content, the physical size of the coin stayed small to ensure its melt value didn’t exceed its face value. The Dime is a 10-cent American coin introduced in 1792. Let’s find out more as we explore the 1944 Dime Value and history. But the dime was already 90% silver until 1965 so its composition didn’t shift.
The military needed nickel and copper, so pennies and nickels were adjusted accordingly, swapping out their base metals for silver and steel. From 1942 to 1945, many American coins were changed to aid the War Effort.
