Hello Silver & Gold stackers! Another week and I have another silver coin for you! A US coin this time!

I'll give some basic coin stats, then we'll look at both sides, and then I'll give some more general info!

Sound fun? Let's go!

Stats

Some basic coin stats for you:

• Weight: 2.5 g
• Diameter: 17.9 mm
• Edge: reeded

and most importantly, it's 90% silver, so that means about 2.25 grams of silver. Woohoo silver!

Let's look at the coin a little more.

Obverse

My dime isn't in the best condition, so let's look at what a mint copy looks like. From Wikipedia:

We have the goddess Liberty seated. She is clad in a flowing dress and seated upon a rock. In her left hand, she holds a Liberty pole surmounted by a Phrygian cap. Her right hand is rested on the top corner of a striped shield with a diagonal banner inscribed with the word "Liberty". The shield represented preparedness in the defense of freedom.

I can only make out 189 for the date on my copy, but they stopped making these in 1891, so this could only be two possible years. And the seller assured me it was 1891, so there we go.

Reverse

The back of my copy is in a bit better condition than the front, but also pretty bad looking, so again here is a better image from Wikipedia:

It's the classic wreath design with "one dime" in the middle. I understand the first few versions of this coin featured a more classical laurel wreath, but then they moved to this one using corn stalks and wheat as a better representation of America.

About

It seems like this design wasn't well liked and was considered bland and boring, leading to it being replaced by the Barber dime and shortly after the Mercury dime.

Here are all three of those

And as look as I am looking through my coin box, here are a few 10 sen coins added to the mix.

And here is the Japanese take on the wreath design next to the Seated Liberty wreath.

Overall

Fun stuff. I'd love to get a better copy, but I don't see too many US coins here so who knows if I'll come across one. Maybe next time I visit the States I'll stop into a coin shop and try to get some.

Anyway, next week we'll go back to some Japanese coins, so stay tuned!

❦

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.