What is a Disme?

Well, that's a good question. What it really means is "dime", that is the more common ten cent pieces we carry as pocket change today. I found the term disme interesting and found it was actually used on U.S. coinage for a brief period back in the late 1790's. Further research turned um some interesting but probably little known facts. Probably the most interesting "disme" coin was issued in 1792 and was actually a Half Disme, or half dime (5 cents). This particular coin is very rare and worth thousands!

According to U.S. Mint records there were only 1500 issued with only a few pieces surviving the rampages of time. What makes this coin even more interesting is that at the time of issue, silver was in very low supply by the U.S. mint and in order to issue the coins George Washington himself donated Marthas large silverware collection which was actually melted and used to produce these coins!

-- D.J. the Stamp Guy