Dime (United States)
The Dime [ daɪm ] is a coin of the United States worth ten cents or one tenth of dollars . The current design shows the 32nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the obverse, while the reverse shows a torch, an oak branch and an olive branch.
history
The name dime comes from the old French "di (s) me" (going back to Latin "decima (pars)") and means "tenth". The French currency denomination Décime is related to this .
The value of the US 10 cent coin is marked with “ One Dime ” and not “10 Cents”. Dime, like cents, is an official sub-unit of the US dollar, in contrast to the German ten-pfennig coin, which was only colloquially referred to as “ groschen ”.
The following applies: 1 dollar = 10 dime = 100 cents = 1000 million (now obsolete)
Nowadays, “Dime” usually only refers to the specific denomination of the coin and not the unit of currency. Between 1837 and 1873, however, the five-cent piece was called " Half Dime ". This is known colloquially today as "nickel", but the official name is "5 cents".
In 1792 a law was passed to mint a "disme" worth one tenth of a dollar. In that year, however, only trial coins were made.
The first dimes for circulation appeared in 1796, at that time without any indication of the value. This type is called the “draped bust”. In 1809 the design of the coin was changed ("Capped Bust") and the value "10 C." was added. Since 1837 “One Dime” has appeared on the coins as a value indication. In that year the “Seated Liberty” was chosen as the new coin motif. The type, which was coined from 1892 to 1916, is known as "Barber Dime", named after the designer Charles E. Barber . From 1916 to 1945 the coin carried the portrait of Liberty with a winged head, designed by Adolph Alexander Weinman . Often this motif has been interpreted as Mercury , which is why this type is called "Mercury Dime".
Today's design
In 1946 the current design, the "Roosevelt Dime", was introduced in honor of President Franklin D. Roosevelt , who died in April 1945. The Dime was chosen because Roosevelt worked with the March of Dimes charity to fight polio .
The coin was designed by John R. Sinnock . His initials "JS" can be seen on the front. In the strongly anti-communist climate in the USA, rumors arose that these initials stood for Josef Stalin and had been affixed by a Soviet agent.
In 1965 the composition of the coin changed. Instead of silver as before, it has now been made from a copper core clad with a cupronickel alloy. The weight proportions (based on the whole coin) are 91.67% copper and 8.33% nickel.
In 2003, Republican MPs tried legislation to replace Roosevelt's image with that of Ronald Reagan , but were unsuccessful.
The coin weighs 2.268 grams with a diameter of 17.91 millimeters and a thickness of 1.35 millimeters. The edge is fluted (118 flutes).
Individual evidence
- ^ "Stalin for Dime" . Snopes. Retrieved July 12, 2006.
- ^ Coins: Questions and Answers, 1964 edition, Krause Publications
- ↑ Christie, Les. "Reagan dime off the table" . June 22, 2004. CNNMoney.com. Retrieved July 19, 2006.
