? About Mercury Dime 0

[FTW]

I’m wondering if anyone can tell if this coin has mint errors or just damage? Many letters look weird and the word “DIME” doesn’t appear straight. Plus there is this raised “dot” below the neckline.

[Greenstang]

What do you think is an error? It helps if you can point it out.

All I see is circulation wear. That dot looks like a small die chip.

[JKK]

Also, that's called a Barber dime, not a Merc.

[FTW]

I apologize for the mistake. That was an error in my part. 
 I don’t know the difference between the two to be honest. 
I’m still learning. I appreciate your advice. 

[Just Bob]

20 minutes ago, FTW said:

I apologize for the mistake. That was an error in my part. 
 I don’t know the difference between the two to be honest. 
I’m still learning. I appreciate your advice. 

In that case, I would recommend that you purchase a copy of "A Guidebook of United States Coins," by RS Yeoman, also called the "Red Book." Don't pay too much attention to the prices in there, as they tend not to be realistic, but the information contained in its pages is invaluable.

Since you are not going to be relying on the prices being up to date, your first copy could even be one that is several years old, which you may be able to buy cheaply from a thrift store, flea market, or used book store.

[kbbpll]

Congratulations @FTW, you found something I never would have noticed. I knew that the reverse design changed going from 1899 to 1900, but I was focused on wreath details. Indeed, as you have observed, the letters in DIME also subtly changed. After 1900, the "I" seems to lean left, and the top left of the "M" has a minor slope to it, which I think accentuates the appearance of misaligned letters. It seems like the damage on yours increases the effect.

There's nothing of tangible value in that of course, because it seems that every 1900-1916 dime has it. It's great though that you saw it, and I encourage you to keep at it.

[JKK]

2 hours ago, FTW said:

I apologize for the mistake. That was an error in my part. 
 I don’t know the difference between the two to be honest. 
I’m still learning. I appreciate your advice. 

There is truly no need to apologize. We correct in order to teach. All most of us ask is that you try and absorb as much as you can, and get some benefit from it, and hopefully gain appreciation for your collection. Errors are normal when you don't know much about something, and hopefully we'll help you learn from them. People who seem to want to be taught, we spend more time teaching.

Bob is right: you could benefit from the Red Book. It would give you a quick reference for US coins, including common variations, and while pricing would not be up to date, it would be useful in a relative sense. For example, if it says that a G-4 1916-D Merc is worth, say, $700, but a G-4 1916 is worth $3, that doesn't mean you can count on those prices at your dealer. It does give you an idea of how much more the 16-D is worth than its more common sibling--enough to make you keep a good lookout for a 16-D.

The Barber design--that specific design of Liberty as a woman--was used on dimes, quarters, and halves from, oh, about the 1890s to the 1910s, exact dates varying a tad. Some of us call them Barbs for short. It replaced the Liberty Seated design that predominated in the mid-later 1800s. In the 1910s, much of our coinage saw redesign. The Liberty nickel gave way to the Indian Head (Buffalo) nickel; the Barber dime yielded to the Winged Liberty (Mercury) dime; the Barb quarter was replaced by the Standing Liberty, and the Barb half went away to make way for the Walking Liberty, one of our most gorgeous designs ever.

The Merc, as many of us call it, showed up in 1916 (sharing that year with Barb dimes, including yours). Liberty is wearing a winged headdress, which is how it came to be called the Mercury. The reverse bears fasces, to my knowledge the only coin in our history to display that symbol (and to stay on the coin until its retirement in 1945...an odd choice in light of world events).