An Unexpected Gift of Silver

Some silver coins come out bearing a mistake and later become quite valuable. Others, like a dime that came out in the early twentieth century bear no errors or mistakes; they just are not received quite the way they were intended.

The 1916 Mercury Head dimes got that name, not because it was what the designer intended, but because people thought the image on the coin resembled Mercury. This new silver coin was brought out to replace a design that had been in use since 1892. It shows the profile of a person. And (at least in the designer's mind) that person was supposed to be a woman. In fact, the image was supposed to be a representation of Lady Liberty.

But somehow it just didn't turn out quite the way the designer thought. When people looked at the silver coin, depicting a profile view of Lady Liberty wearing a cap on her head, they thought it looked like Mercury. Actually, this is understandable because it cannot be easy to design silver coins. They are so very small. And to come up with an illustration that is recognizable and can be imprinted on something that is the size of various silver coins cannot be easy at all.

From what we know about Mercury, he probably would not have minded the extra publicity, however. Mercury had various roles (depending on who you ask); he was the messenger god, the god of speed, the god of commerce, and some times the patron god of thieves as well as travelers. Yes, Mercury wore many hats.

The 1916 dime was well-received despite the fact that people did not exactly fall in line with the designer's vision. But that is not always the case when something is presented to the public or to someone in private. Have you received a gift of silver that you just really didn’t like? It was well-intended and you know that silver is very valuable and precious metal. But somehow that mini silver figurine or those "cutting edge" silver earrings were not quite what you had in mind...

If this is the case, we just want to remind you that you can sell silver and get instant cash for silver--something that is quite useful. You can use cash for silver anytime and anywhere to get something that you really do want.