Ten Cents (Dimes)

Designer: Charles E. Barber (Obverse), James B. Longacre (Reverse) Diameter: 17.9mm Composition: 90% silver, 10% copper. Weight: 2.5 grams. Edge: Reeded.
Minted: 1892-1916. Total Circulation Minted: 504,515,051. Total Proofs Minted: 17,377 estimated.
Obverse: Liberty. Reverse: "One Dime" surrounded by wreath.

When the Mint Act of 1890 passed, it allowed for design changes in United States coinage to be changed every twenty-five years. In 1891 the dime is one of the coins eligible for this design change, and the treasury decided to do an open contest to design a new dime. Judges were appointed, and consisted of Charles E. Barber; Henry Mitchell, who was an engraver from Boston; and Augustus Saint-Gaudens. After three hundred submissions, only two were given honorable mentions, and the others were deemed unacceptable. Edward Leech, who was the successor to Mint Director James Kimball, abandoned the whole design competition and committee, and directed Chief Engraver Charles Barber to design the new dime.
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Type I, Silver

Designer: John Sinnock. Diameter: 17.91mm Composition: 90% silver, 10% copper. Weight: 2.5 grams. Edge: Reeded.
Minted: 1946-1964. Total Circulation Minted: 6,595,617,673. Total Proofs Minted: 19,837,717.
Obverse: Roosevelt Reverse: Torch flanked by olive branch and oak branch.

After Roosevelt's death in 1945, Virginia Congressman Ralph H. Daughton suggested to congress that the Mercury dime be replaced with an image of Roosevelt. On January 8, 1946, Treasury Secretary Fred Vinson approved the new design and in a short span of a little over three weeks the coin was released on what would have been Roosevelt's 64th birthday: January 30, 1946.

The obverse features Roosevelt with the designer's initials ("JS") at the base of his neck. Rumors from conspiracy theorists began to spread stating that the initials stood for "Joseph Stalin". In the days of the Cold War, Americans were quick to up with such conspiracies.
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