I've been intrigued about these coins for a while

[Art_from_Ark]

The first picture is the "Winged Liberty Head" dime (popularly referred to as the "Mercury" dime), which was designed by a German immigrant, A.A.Weinman, and first issued in 1916, a year before the United States entered WWI against Germany. The reverse ("tails") side features the rather curious design element (for an American coin) of an ancient Roman fasces, with an olive branch curled around it.



Six years after the introduction of this coin, Mussolini came to power in Italy, adopting the fasces as the symbol of his party, the Fascists. The coin below is a silver Italian 5 lira coin, which was almost exactly the same size of the US quarter dollar. The bold eagle on the reverse is perched upon an upturned fasces, which is quite similar to the one depicted on the "Mercury" dime



A few years later, in 1932, the Treasury Department held a contest to design a quarter to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of George Washington. While the citizen's committee overwhelmingly wanted Laura G. Fraser's design, they were overruled by Andrew Mellon, Herbert Hoover's Treasury Secretary , who insisted that the following design, made by John Flannagan, be adopted instead:



I am struck by the similarities of the quarter design and the Italian 5 lira design, particularly the reverse. It almost seems as if the Italian coin served as the model for the Washington quarter design.

Both the "Mercury" dime and the Washington quarter circulated during World War II. It is quite ironic that while America was fighting against fascist countries in that war, her contemporary coinage featured one, and quite likely two, coins with fascist design elements.

[derby378]

1. Not to mention the fascist coup d'etat planned for America in the 30's

You know, the coup that General Smedley Butler exposed before it ever got the green light. Elements of the American Legion were ready to serve as the shock troops for the businessmen who organized this hare-brained scheme. Many American corporatists back then were enchanted with Mussolini and/or Hitler. Remember that automaker Henry Ford, who also authored The International Jew, was one of Hitler's tiny cadre of American pen-pals.

[Art_from_Ark]

4. I've always wondered why Andrew Mellon favored the Flanagan

design, when just about everyone else favored the Fraser design. One theory is that Mr. Mellon was quite the misogynist, and couldn't bear the thought of a woman (Fraser) beating out a man in a competition such as this. But the similarities between Mussolini's 5 lira coin and the subsequent Washington quarter may be more than just coincidental. It might be interesting to read up on Secretary Mellon's political sympathies.

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. ...

the fasces is an ancient Roman symbol of power and authority; the symbolism is of strength through unity (the fasces itself, a bundle of birch rods, is stronger than each individual rod on its own). Its use in American civic symbolism is quite old; there's a statue of George Washington as an American Cincinnatus, with a plow and fasces, in the Virginia Capitol in Richmond:



And the fasces also appears in the Lincoln Memorial, incorporated into the front uprights of Lincoln's seat:

[Art_from_Ark]

5. The Lincoln Memorial was designed at around the same time

that the Mercury dime was making its appearance, and was dedicated just a few months before Mussolini took power.

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. Yes...

but that statue of Washington dates to the late 18th century. The only common element in the use of the fasces by Mussolini and its use in America (in the Lincoln Memorial, Mercury dime, Washington statue, even inside the US Capitol) is the symbolism it has because of its earlier use by the Romans. Trying to draw some connection between its use in the US and a supposed fascist tendency in America is really rather ridiculous.

[Art_from_Ark]

7. The statue of Washington in the Virginia capitol building

does not appear to include the axe, which, I believe, was intended to represent "consent of the governed" (removing the threat of forced obedience), and unity of the States (a bundle of sticks tied together is stronger than each stick individually).

Outside of Congress, the fasces was never a symbol of American ideals, and was certainly never an American coinage element before 1916-- the traditional symbol of authority-- and the presidency, for that matter-- was an eagle clasping arrows in one talon, and an olive branch in the other, with a shield covering its breast. On low denomination coins, including the dime, it was a wreath. The unprecedented appearance of a fasces-- complete with axe-- on American coinage in 1916 could be intepreted in many ways, including, perhaps, readiness for war in Europe, but it is nonetheless rather curious that this appeared at around the time that the fascist movement was gaining a toehold in Italy.

[Kazak]

3. Interesting...

Certainly some intriguing imagery can be found on our currency (see: the eye in the pyramid).