Of Ducks, Dimes, and Destinies, also known as Of Ducks and Dimes and Destinies and (inaccurately) as Ducks, Dimes and Destinies, is a story by Don Rosa. It features Magica De Spell,Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck, Donald Duck, Matilda McDuck, Hortense McDuck, Fergus McDuck, Burt the Ditchdigger, and, in his first appearance, Howard Rockerduck.
Description
When Magica De Spell learns how Scrooge McDuck earned his first dime, she travels back in time to his tenth birthday to steal before he can. Only when she has already gotten the Dime from its original owner, Howard Rockerduck, does she realize it's worthless if it never becomes Scrooge's Number One Dime in the first place. It is now up to her to get time back on track…
Behind the scenes
This story was first printed in 1995 in the Icelandic Andrés Önd #1995-24. It was printed in English in Uncle Scrooge #297, and reprinted in the various version of the Don Rosa Library and collected editions of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck.
According to Rosa, it was written in 1992 but shelved because The Last of the Clan McDuck, released just after, dealt with the same story. Though technically not written as part of it, the series has subsequently been considered Chapter 0 of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck.
The plot found Magica De Spell traveling back in time to get the Number One Dime out of a younger Scrooge McDuck, a plot device reused by A Dime in Time and later The Time Vortex (both times with Scrooge's Klondike Gold Rush days rather than the Glaswegian child).