[The following excerpt is published courtesy of DLRC Press and its author, David W. Lange. This information was originally published in 2005 in The Complete Guide to Mercury Dimes]
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MINTAGE: 9,402,000 (Ranking 27/77)
POPULAR VARIETIES: A prominent die chip in the date is known (photo). Additional patterns of die cracking are reported.
1917-D T16 dimes have the very small D mintmark used for dimes only in 1916 and 1917. 1917-D T17 dimes have the equally small but somewhat differently shaped mintmark used 1917-34.
RARITY: Only slightly scarce in the lower grades, 1917-D becomes more challenging in grades Fine and higher. Both choice and gem pieces are rare, with just a single example having been certified above MS-66. About half of the certified coins have full bands.
COMMENTS: Exists as both Type of 1916 and Type of 1917 in a ratio of approximately five to one. Mint State coins usually exhibit weak strikes, particularly those having the T17 obverse. In addition to their lack of textured fields, T17 dimes are characteristically well defined at their centers, while being weak around their peripheries. Although displaying this peripheral weakness, 1917-D T17 dimes are more likely to possess full bands. Conversely, 1917-D T16 dimes are better struck overall, but they are more often seen with flat bands. Since this pattern is evident in all dimes dated 1917, it suggests that a subtle change in the curvature of the fields was part of the modifications made in the Type of 1917. Such a change might easily channel a greater flow of metal toward the coins’ centers.
The fact that T17 dimes do not strike up well around their peripheries indicates that the Mint’s presumed goal of improving striking quality and extending the life was not achieved with the introduction of the new hubs. This notion is supported by the appearance of yet another obverse hub in 1918.
The placement of the mintmark ‘D’ is also distinctive from the old dies to the new. On the former, the normal position is up high, as in 1916. Dies from the new hub typically have the mintmark well centered between the olive branch and the border, a location favored ever afterward through 1945. This suggests that the 1917-D T16 reverse dies were from the original shipment of 1916. So few dimes were coined at Denver in 1916 that most of these dies would have remained on hand at the beginning of 1917.
