Roosevelt Dimes
2.5 Grams of 90% Silver
Produced first in 1946, the Roosevelt Dime replaced the Winged Liberty or “Mercury” design with a bust of the president on the obverse and a torch with oak and olive branches on the reverse. They were made from a 90% silver 10% copper mix until switching over to clad planchets for dimes and quarters starting in 1965. It is worth noting that, due to the mint’s policy of a date-freeze for the two compositions, remaining 90% silver planchets would be struck with dies featuring the 1964 date until supply exhaustion.
There is much romance to me about these versions of our coinage still circulating today that were actually made of precious and intrinsically valuable metal. I think this makes them significant and marks a significant transition in our coinage and our money’s relationship with metal and worth. I hold no desire to collect clad (worthless metal) dimes, but to each their own! Their Silver is beautiful.
Without any single low-mintage date and relatively small collector base, there is little to no incentive for anyone nefarious to go out and forge or counterfeit Roosevelt Dimes, though things like trying to recut bands might still happen.
A silver dime planchet that escaped striking! What dime could you have been?
MINT ERROR NGC 4744028009
The Design
The design of the Roosevelt dime was engraver John Sinnock, and the initials JS can be found to the left of the date below the President’s bust. In longstanding tradition of initial initial controversy, there was still scandal at the thought that these initials were a reference to Joseph Stalin and were a communist symbol hidden in the coin. While this did not as in the case of Victor David Brenner with the Lincoln cent have his initials removed, and would remain part of the design to this day. It is worth noting, however, that when Sinnock created the design for the Franklin half dollar two years later in 1948, he would elect to go this time around with JRS on the base of the bust.
PCGS 39464000
Key Dates
The Roosevelt dime series holds many parallels to Franklin half dollars. Their first few years in proof are the lowest mintage issues of the whole series by miles. Both Roosevelts and Franklins were first issued in mint state until the mint resumed making proofs, and in mint state, both series do not have any true low-mintage issues that drive their rarity. Both of these coins have strike designations, and herein lies the value and the key-ness of their dates!
Proof key dates in order of desirability and cameo rarity:
1950 Deep Cameo
1952 Cameo
1951 Deep Cameo
1953 Deep Cameo
1959 Deep Cameo
Circulation key dates (with Full Bands), in order of desirability:
1949-S FB
1949 FB
1958 FB
1953 FB
1957 FB