The letter W is the initial for Adolph Weinman, who designed the coin.
A mercury dime has a face of a personification of liberty on it with a winged helmet. They are called mercury dimes because it looks like Mercury from mythology.
See this page: http://cointrackers.com/coins/148/1945-mercury-dime/ for what the 1945 "mercury" or "winged liberty" dime looks like.
It's a portrait of Miss Liberty wearing a winged liberty cap. This design was issued from 1916 to 1945, and almost immediately got the nickname "Mercury dime" because the winged cap looks a lot like the winged helmet worn by the Greek god Mercury.
The overstamp looks like there is a 1 in front of the 2 in "1942" and is quite noticeable.However, there is a variety of the 1942-D Mercury dime that is a 2 over 1 also which is less noticeable, for this the best indicator is to look at the "4" it will have what looks like a second tail under it and the "2" will look to have dot right under the far left base.
Back in 1903, the nickel was called, the "Liberty" nickel. The name "Mercury" only refers to the dime and came into circulation in 1916. The "Mercury" dime was produced until 1945. In 1946 to present, it is called the "Roosevelt" dime.
The letter W stands for Weinman. Adolph Weinman designed the coin.
Do a Google image search for "Mercury Dime" and you will see the photo of the dime.
The front looks as if it is on a roll of aluminum foil because it might be fake or that it is just the way it looks like.
A mercury dime has a face of a personification of liberty on it with a winged helmet. They are called mercury dimes because it looks like Mercury from mythology.
See this page: http://cointrackers.com/coins/148/1945-mercury-dime/ for what the 1945 "mercury" or "winged liberty" dime looks like.
It's a portrait of Miss Liberty wearing a winged liberty cap. This design was issued from 1916 to 1945, and almost immediately got the nickname "Mercury dime" because the winged cap looks a lot like the winged helmet worn by the Greek god Mercury.
The overstamp looks like there is a 1 in front of the 2 in "1942" and is quite noticeable.However, there is a variety of the 1942-D Mercury dime that is a 2 over 1 also which is less noticeable, for this the best indicator is to look at the "4" it will have what looks like a second tail under it and the "2" will look to have dot right under the far left base.
The pre-Roosevelt (Mercury) dime has the fasces on the back.
Back in 1903, the nickel was called, the "Liberty" nickel. The name "Mercury" only refers to the dime and came into circulation in 1916. The "Mercury" dime was produced until 1945. In 1946 to present, it is called the "Roosevelt" dime.
a 1916-D mercury dime
The back of a 1937 dime features an image of an olive branch on the left and a torch on the right, symbolizing peace and liberty, with the word "ONE DIME" in the center.
Please be more specific