The mintages for the Capped Bust Dime series were generally higher than the previous series for the denomination. The quantities even stretched above the one million mark, a level that might have seemed unheard of when looking at the initial years of production. Nearly all issues of the series can be reasonably obtained, making for a collectible series at various grade levels.
The most popular design for the ten cent denomination is the Mercury Dime, which was produced from 1916 to 1945. During this time period mintages varied widely from just a few hundred thousand for the well known key date to more than 200 million for some years. Assembling an a collection for each date and mint mark within the series is an ambitious but approachable goal for collectors.
The Barber Dimes remain a series that is somewhat overlooked by collectors. During the 25 year span when the series was issued, there were numerous coins with lower mintages. Since these were not saved in any quantity, high mint state graded examples are extremely elusive. Although these coins carry premiums, they are low in comparison to coins of comparable rarity from other more popular series.
