The Dime - 10¢

The Dime - 10¢

The dime or the 10 cents of the Canadian dollar is next and its etymology comes from the French word dime which means tithe and in turn means a tenth. So essentially the dime is a tenth of a dollar. It is also a shiny coin which uses nickel plating. It is also the lightest coin; weighing almost as half as the Nickel and thinnest coin; even thinner than the penny.

We have the usual Queen Elizabeth II on the reverse and on the obverse is a schooner notably the Bluenose. I do not know much about this particular ship but I know that it must have a very important part in Canadian history for it to be on its currency.

Unlike the two previous coins I mentioned earlier, the dime has a reeded edge. Going back to its physical features, this coin is slightly larger than a TTC token, a special coin used in the Toronto mass transit system. As for the thickness the dime surprisingly thinness makes it a very inconvenient coin in my opinion because it can slip through small cracks quite easily. It was also quite frustrating to use in vending machines. Due to its small size, some machines find it hard to detect that it is a perfectly legit coin.

Left: to Right The Penny, TTC token, The Dime

With the dime, the only thing one can get on campus is a one black and white printed or photocopied page. Therefore its relative value is quite debatable for a student. Being short of 10 cents to print a paper might be crucial. This never happened to me because I always have more than enough whenever I had to do those kind of tasks. Again like the nickel, being 10 cents short will be quite problematical and it will most probably not overlooked by many sellers and perhaps the buyers too.