Image source: Wikimedia Commons
Know More About the 1965 Dime, an Error Dime
The Roosevelt Dime is the latest dime variation in circulation today. It has been so since 1946.
The Roosevelt dime was created to honor Unites States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He died in 1945, and a year after a dime featuring his face was minted in commemoration. It is still the one being minted up to this day.
It replaced the Winged Liberty Head or the Mercury Dime. The design of the very first Roosevelt Dime was by a United States Mint employee, Chief Engraver John R. Sinnock. It was the first coin designed by a Mint employee in over four decades, due to the lack of time to commission the design to another designer.
The Coinage Act of 1965
This Act changed the composition of the ten-cent dime from the 90% silver, 10% copper combination into a “clad sandwich”, where the entire coin is made up of pure copper and is plated with 75% copper and 25% nickel alloy.
As soon as the new dimes were released for circulation, silver dimes minted prior to 1965 were slowly removed from circulation, although up to this day there may be one or two silver dimes that will be given to you as change, and these silver dimes are what coin collectors are after. Their value has skyrocketed since being removed from circulation.
The 1965 Silver Dime
There is a certain 1965 dime that has been in every coin collector’s mind, and rightly so because its value of in the thousands of dollars. You may ask how could a ten-cent dime be worth thousands? It was already mentioned that the production of the silver dimes was halted in 1964, so a silver 1965 dime is very rare. It is also an error coin. So if you find one you should hold on to it and analyze how you can get the most out of the coin in terms of its selling value. There were only very few silver dimes ever found, but numismatists are optimistic that there are still more out there waiting to be discovered and appraised. There are two ways you can tell if the 1965 dime in your possession is made from silver or from cupronickel alloy:
Look at the edge of the coin. If it has a silver edge, it is a silver dime. If it has a brown strip on the coin’s edge, it is a cupronickel dime.
The silver dime is heavier by 23 grams. It weighs 2.50 grams compared to the cupronickel dime, which only weighs 2.27 grams.
The most expensive silver dime was worth a whopping $9,000! So if you have a rare silver dime in your possession, you can start assessing its value. What do you know, the one you have may be worth more than $9,000.
Coin Grading Hacks
If you are new at coin collecting – not just silver dimes but all kinds of US coins, you need to have a guide on how coins are graded and valued. There are grading books and price guides you can consult for your rare coin collection. Here are just some of them that will be of great help.
- The Red Book: A Guide to United States Coins has been in publication since 1947, and is the longest running price guide in the US. It is very thorough in discussing coin pricing that it is considered the pricing bible. You will learn in the book the retail values of all US coins, bullion coins, other coin issues, as well as related information regarding US coins.
- The Greysheet: Coin Dealer Newspaper is issued weekly, so it has the most up-to-date coin grading guidelines. This book is suitable for both coin dealers and collectors as it features all kinds of US coins and how they are graded weekly.
- The US Coin Digest: This has prices for eleven coin grades, and is another thorough coin pricing guide much like The Red Book.
- Coin Values: This is a monthly guide on coin prices. It indicates the retail values of coins, compared to the Greysheet that only shows the wholesale value.
If you see a rare dime, or any coin for that matter, that is different from the rest, do not toss it out yet and think that it is not worth anything. It may just be the opposite: it may be worth a lot of money if you sell it at auction.
Sources:
http://www.blifaloo.com/info/rare_coins.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dime_(United_States_coin)
http://www.blifaloo.com/info/selling-coins.php