1918 Illinois Centennial Half Dollar

            Consider, for example, the 1918 half dollar issued to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Illinois’ admission to the Union. The obverse of this coin carries the portrait of a younger, beardless Abraham Lincoln, the state’s most famous son – and, for that reason, it’s commonly referred to as the “Lincoln commemorative half.”
  
            But some major price guides list the coin as the “Illinois Centennial” commemorative, while still others label it the “Lincoln-Illinois” half dollar. Someone unfamiliar with these terms might have difficulty looking up the value and other facts and figures about the coin.
 
            The moral is clear: Unless you’re aware of all the names by which a coin is known, you might end up looking for that coin in the wrong place. This, then, is one case where it pays to know a “rose” by every name. 
 
 

Winged Liberty Head Dime

            The “Mercury dime,” is another example. For nearly a century, that has been the name most commonly applied to the U.S. 10-cent piece designed by Adolph A. Weinman for the new silver coinage of 1916. The name reflects the popular perception that the figure depicted on the obverse of the coin is Mercury, the winged messenger of the gods in Roman mythology.
 
            To Weinman, however, the figure portrayed was Liberty and the wings crowning her cap represented freedom of thought. Thus, more punctilious numismatists – including some writers and editors – insist that the coin should be called the “Winged Liberty Head dime.”
 
            Either way, this diminutive masterpiece is just as lovely to behold and just as worthwhile to collect.