The United States used to have an intrinsic monetary system that relied on circulating precious metal coins for commerce. Coins were “the money”. read more
US dimes used to be made of silver, which is more valuable by weight than the nickel and copper used to make nickels, meaning that even though the dime was physically smaller, the metallic content was still worth more. read more
originally the nickel was made from 5 cents worth of nickel and the dime was made from 10 cents worth of silver. Silver was worth more than nickel. 5 cents worth of nickel would have been too small. read more