Who is the woman on the rare 1935 dime?

Question

Lizzy from SC

Answer 1

I found this information on a website from one that was sold on ebay: These pieces were commonly called "Mercury Dimes", the main device is in fact a representation of Liberty with wings crowing her cap intended to symbolize liberty of thought.

Details:

Designer Adolph A. Weinman
Weight 2.50 grams
Composition .900 silver, .100 copper
Diameter 17.9 mm
Reeded edge
Philadelphia mint

Sorry, it is all I could find at the moment.

Here is a website, if no one else can help you, where you can ask a question about the coin and they will email you back about it:
http://www.vtcoins.com/cgi-bin/browse.pl?control=coinquestion&coinid=v6558&coininfo=1935+-+S++MS67++Mercury+(1916-1945)+Dime

Answer 2

Lady Liberty.

Although most commonly referred to as the Mercury dime, the coin does not depict the Roman messenger god, nor does it contain any mercury. The obverse figure is a depiction of Liberty wearing a Phrygian cap, a classic symbol of liberty and freedom, with its wings intended to symbolize freedom of thought. Designed by noted sculptor Adolph Alexander Weinman (December 11, 1870 – August 8, 1952), the Winged Liberty Head dime is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful US coin designs ever produced. The composition (90 percent silver, 10 percent copper) and diameter (17.9 millimeters) of the Mercury dime was unchanged from the Barber (1892–1916) dime.

Photo of a 1936 Winged Liberty Head (Mercury) dime at:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1a/Mercury_dime.jpg

Weinman (who had studied under Augustus Saint-Gaudens) won a 1915 competition against two other artists for the design job, and is thought to have modeled his version of Liberty on Elsie Kachel Stevens, wife of noted poet Wallace Stevens. The reverse design, a fasces juxtaposed with an olive branch, was intended to symbolize America's readiness for war, combined with their desire for peace. The fasces would later become a symbol of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party, leading some to criticize the dime's design.

The 1916-D issue of only 264,000 coins is highly sought after, due largely to the fact that the overwhelming majority of the dimes struck at Denver in 1916 carried the pre-existing Barber design. Many coins in this series exhibit striking defects, most notably the fact that the line separating the two horizontal bands in the center of the fasces is often missing, in whole or in part; the 1945 issue of the Philadelphia mint hardly ever appears with this line complete from left to right, and as a result, such coins are extremely valuable. No dimes bear the dates of 1922, 1932, or 1933.

Of particular interest to numismatists is the condition of the horizontal bands tying together the bundle on the fasces, on the coin's reverse. On well-struck examples, separation exists within the two sets of bands (known as Full Split Bands). Coins exhibiting this feature are typically valued higher than ones without it.

Answer 3

Stephanie F said it all. I found the same info.