[1] The dime is currently the only United States coin in general circulation that is not denominated in terms of dollars or cents.

The first known proposal for a decimal-based coinage system in the United States was made in 1783 by Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and David Rittenhouse.

Pre-1965 dimes followed Gresham's law and vanished from ordinary currency circulation at face value.

The Coinage Act of 1792, passed on April 2, 1792, authorized the mintage of a "disme", one-tenth the silver weight and value of a dollar.

It featured the same obverse and reverse as all other circulating coins of the time, the so-called Draped Bust/Small Eagle design.

The reverse design is of a small bald eagle surrounded by palm and olive branches, and perched on a cloud.

The obverse continued from the previous series, but the eagle on the reverse was changed from the widely criticized "scrawny" hatchling to a scaled-down version of the Great Seal of the United States.

Christian Gobrecht completed the design of the Seated Liberty dime, whose obverse was used with every circulating silver U.S. coin of the period.

Mint Director Robert Maskell Patterson requested a new coin design, to be reminiscent of the Britannia image found on coinage of the United Kingdom.

Chief Engraver William Kneass drew the original sketches, but suffered a stroke and was too ill to finish them or to oversee preparation of the dies.

The New Orleans Mint also made the Seated Liberty Dime in this year, but only in the Small Date variety.

This reverse design continued through the end of the series in 1891 and was changed only slightly in 1892, when the Barber dime debuted.

The first change was made in response to rising silver prices, while the latter alteration was brought about by the Mint Act of 1873 which, in an attempt to make U.S. coinage the currency of the world, added a small amount of mass to the dime, quarter, and half-dollar to bring their weights in line with fractions of the French 5-franc piece.

Extensive internal politics surrounded the awarding of the design job, which had initially been opened to the public.

A four-member committee (which included Barber), appointed by then-Mint Director James Kimball, accorded only two of more than 300 submissions an honorable mention.

[3] Liberty's portrait was inspired by two sources—French coins and medals of the period, as well as ancient Greek and Roman sculpture.

The reverse contained a wreath and inscription almost identical to the one used on the final design of the Seated Liberty dime.

While circulated coins of the entire series are readily available to collectors there is one outstanding rarity, the 1894-S Barber Dime.

Although most commonly referred to as the "Mercury" dime, the Winged Liberty Head does not depict the Roman messenger god.

[15] The reverse design, a fasces juxtaposed with an olive branch, was intended to symbolize America's readiness for war, combined with its desire for peace.

Although the fasces was later officially adopted by Benito Mussolini and his National Fascist Party, the symbol was also common in American iconography and has generally avoided any stigma associated with its usage in wartime Italy.

[16] The dime was chosen to honor Roosevelt partly due to his efforts in the founding of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (later renamed the March of Dimes), which originally raised money for polio research and to aid victims of the disease and their families.

Chief Engraver John R. Sinnock was chosen, as he had already designed a Mint presidential medal of Roosevelt.

[19] Sinnock's design placed his initials ("JS") at the base of Roosevelt's neck, on the coin's obverse.

[18] Controversy immediately ensued, as strong anti-Communist sentiment in the United States led to the circulation of rumors that the "JS" engraved on the coin was the initials of Joseph Stalin, placed there by a Soviet agent in the mint.

Soon after the coin's release, it was claimed that Sinnock borrowed his design of Roosevelt from a bas relief created by African American sculptor Selma Burke, unveiled at the Recorder of Deeds Building in Washington, D.C. in September 1945.