HomeUS CoinsChoosing a Key Date Clad Roosevelt Dime

Choosing a Key Date Clad Roosevelt Dime

By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek.com ….
We are 47 years into the clad era and the dust is yet to settle.

Even though there’s a lot of action to be had, it seems the hobby as a whole can give the clad era one great big shrug of the shoulders. We maintain that our apathy is at least partly due to the low opinion that ‘50s- and ‘60s-era collectors held and still hold about clad coinage.

Another factor, and one that can’t be dismissed, is that design malaise has set in. The United States made great strides beautifying its coinage under Theodore Roosevelt. By the time Teddy’s fifth-cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was memorialized on the dime, America had come full circle.

The modern era of coinage, we argue, is best described as the era in which we stopped idealizing notions of Liberty and began to valorize the image of Presidents.

Identifying denominational coinage with the busts of Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelt, Washington, and Kennedy creates the impression that these denominations “belong” to the figures they depict. After all, who would want to evict the Great Emancipator, the author of the Declaration of Independence, FDR or the martyred JFK from their homes on our money? Unfortunately, the longevity of these series has led to design malaise, and this malaise lulls us into the false assumption that the circulating coinage we use isn’t going anywhere.

Of course, that’s not true; despite soaring mintage numbers in recent years, the attrition rate for circulating coinage is high. Sadly, we in the numismatic community do not have the tools necessary to measure attrition rates with any precision and thus the malaise is perpetuated.

The Roosevelt dime, a series often relegated to the ranks of beginners’ sets, is still chock full of interesting dates, conditional rarities, and full strike rarities. Fans of the (physically) smallest circulating denomination typically look to the series’ 1946-1964 period to collect the last of the silver dimes, but there is ample enough reason to give the clad era some consideration. For starters, much of the Mint’s output in the 60s and 70s was plagued by a lack of fineness and attractive gems well struck gems can prove elusive. Second, the FB or FT designation (depending upon your grading authority) is a rather recent development, so mainstream collectors were not necessarily hoarding these coins for future returns. While still a speculative pursuit, collectors looking for high grade fully struck coins still have a chance of putting together a world-class and potentially valuable set without spending a fortune if they employ patience and persistence.

Finally, it is our opinion that most people are identifying at the wrong coin in the clad-era Roosevelt series as the key. This will prove advantageous to those who consider what we have to say below.

So, let’s take a look at a few notable Roosevelt issues during the clad era to see what desirables are hiding in plain sight.

The Modern Low Mintage/Low Value Paradox: 1996-W

A prime example of the modern low mintage/low value paradox can be found in the Roosevelt dime series. In 1996, the Mint celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Roosevelt Dime by including a dime minted at the West Point Mint. The West Point Mint had filled overflow orders for Philadelphia throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s (their circulating coinage output lacked a distinguishing mint mark) but the 1996-W dime would be the first “circulating” coin bearing the W mint mark.

Just under 1.5 million of these dimes were minted. All were included as an insert to the 1996 Uncirculated Set. This, unfortunately, is a number that is not likely to see massive attrition anytime soon, nor will dealer stock levels of this coin diminish to the point where there are more buyers than sellers, thus giving the coin the upward pricing pressures necessary for it to become a valuable collectible in raw form, and since most of the dimes were well struck and carefully handled by the mint, there are no conditional rarities until you get to MS-69.

Furthermore, the 1996-W dime is the most submitted (by a wide margin) of any of the clad Roosevelt dimes, save the rare and highly prized collectible 1982 “No P” variety. The quick overview of PCGS clad-era Roosevelt dime population totals is a great primer into the mentality of the mainstream coin market makers, as the 1996-W dime could not become the most submitted clad-era dime, by such a wide margin, without institutional dealers submitting the coin in bulk. This leads me to believe that the pricing levels of the coin are not necessarily organic to the coin based on its lack of accessibility, but simply profit taking on the part of the industry.

PCGS POPULATIONS FOR CLAD BUSINESS STRIKE DIMES 1965-1982


The blue line represents Mint State Roosevelt dimes, while the red line represents Full Band Roosevelt Dimes. With the numbers of submitted coins this low, expect enterprising submitters to exploit weaknesses in the market. The 1982 No P variety is not listed

PCGS POPULATIONS FOR CLAD BUSINESS STRIKE DIMES 1983-2011


Certified populations for the 1996-W have oversaturated the market to the point where this “low mintage” coin will never be hard to come by.

So, if the key to the series is not the 1.5 million-minted not-intended-for-circulation 1996-W commemorative dime, which coin is? We propose that it’s probably one of the following candidates.

Overlooked: 1975

The first clad era dime we think of in terms of true opportunity is actually the 1975 Philly dime. Lost in the excitement of the 1975-1976 Bicentennial production run of quarters, half dollars, and dollar coins, the 1975 dime is a typical product of mid-1970s clad production. With a production run of 585,673,900, this is not the type of coin that casual passers-by would assume is scarce, and it’s not. Most of the preserved population of this year, based on my experience, would grade MS-63 or MS-64. The strike tends to be mushy, and incomplete detail on the reverse is the norm (washed-out torches and the “-US” in PLURIBUS are not uncommon).

Since there’s been little interest in this date, each BU roll should contain a few gems. Superb gems, specifically any fully-struck Full Torch piece in MS-66 requires access to many, many rolls to find. Recent auctions show MS-66 FT bringing $200+ per coin- but this is the result of too few people doing the legwork to pull these coins from the wild (there are 16 PCGS-holdered coins at this level as of the time of this writing). If you want to take a shot at finding your own high end piece from this date, we recommend rolls over mint sets.

The Non-Mint Set Years: 1982-1983

Roll hoarders and coin dealers saved 1982 and 1983 mint output because of the discontinuation of Mint Sets for these two years. The most notable dime from this period is the rare, thought to be one die, “No-P” variety. The 1982 “No-P” was the result of mint worker oversight when one of the working dies used to strike coinage was not punched with the Philly “P” mintmark. The oddity was discovered in late 1982, and according to PCGS’ Jaime Hernandez, discovered to be distributed in parts of Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and also Boston, Massachussetts. The 1982 “No-P” is the most-submitted clad Roosevelt dime for grading outside of the 1996-W, but unlike the not-intended-for-circulation novelty coin, the “No-P” is genuinely scarce and desirable from a numismatic standpoint. It’s a coin we wholeheartedly recommend since it’s a variety that has cross-over appeal for non-variety collectors.

Of all of the submitted “No-P” dimes, only 4% qualified as Full Band, which is par for the course for this date. Certified ratios from the general population of 1982-Ps show an artificially higher distribution of fully-struck pieces, but this is merely the result of highly selective submissions on the part of dealers and specialists trying to encapsulate higher quality coins.

As fascinating and coveted as the 1982 “No-P” is, fully-struck dimes from both mints from 1982 and 1983 are equally challenging to find. The good news for dime enthusiasts is that dealers and sellers tend not to hold this type of material in high regard, which means that a patient and determined collector can hunt through rolls and dealer stock for choice pieces with the potential for significant upside down the road. There is a no mint set premium for ‘82s and ‘83s, but this pricing model tends to affect the larger denomination coins more noticeably.

The Special Mint Set Years: 1965-1967

Because the mint issued hybrid proof/business strike quality Special Mint Sets in 1965 through 1967, the majority of certified dimes from this era are SMS releases. Business strike specimens of common date Roosevelt dimes are hardly on anybody’s radar, not particularly searched out or traded in certified holders, and are therefore what we consider an “at risk” clad type coin. In terms of possible varieties alone, the Denver mint had to churn out over one billion 1964-D dimes as the silver era came to a close. The heavy workload led to scores of doubled dies and RPMs. Production in 1965 through 1967 continued at the same pace, but so far Variety Vista has only verified a handful of varieties, and only one, DDO FS-101 (FS-019), is listed in the Cherrypickers’ Guide and attributed by PCGS and NGC. Who’s to say dozens more aren’t out there?

Ignored coins have a poor history of being preserved in sufficient numbers to satisfy demand once they become considered scarce. How many years will we go before collectors start to desire coins from the beginning of the clad era? The first three dimes released in the clad era may have been made in an effort to stop hoarding and loosen up the flow of coinage in circulation, but if it turns out that this effort was successful, then there may be fewer high quality dimes available from this period than we suspect.

Dimes of a More Recent Vintage: 2005-2010

The Mint’s decision to strike satin finish coins for their annual mint sets didn’t sit well with many collectors. While it’s true that the matte finish 1994-P Jefferson nickel from the 1993/1994 Thomas Jefferson Coinage and Currency Set, and the 1998-S matte finish Kennedy half from the Kennedy Collector’s Set, are liked by some as interesting one-year specimen coins, the decision to produce satin finish business strikes on a larger scale turned off collectors who felt that they did not satisfy the requirement of being an actual minted for circulation type coin. As such, these satin finish hybrid specimens created a new category of numismatic collectible, and one (according to some) that we have seen the last of (for now). Of course, all of this just makes actual circulation strikes from 2005-2010 that much more prone to attrition, and judging by the scant amount of material from these dates being certified by PCGS and NGC up to this point, it will take a matter of years to figure out what the prospects are for dimes from this period on the secondary market.

My guess is that in the long run, the mint’s satin finish experiment will only add to collector confusion as new collectors enter the marketplace. Following the “low mintage/low value” paradox we outlined earlier, we feel that the equally low mintage satin finish coins will remain abundantly available and over-slabbed, while the business strike dimes will be harder to find in higher grades and much more desirable. As to which one will be the scarcest of the lot, I’m not sure. The 2009-D has the lowest mintage with just under 50 million, but with modern coins, it’s anybody’s guess.

A Possible Key Date Emerges: 1969

Finally, we arrive to the coin we both favor as being the key to the clad series: high quality, fully-struck Philadelphia dimes from 1969. With a mintage of 145,790,000, the 1969 is the lowest mintage clad dime. It is behind both 2009 issues, and like the 1975 dime, 1969s tend to come in MS-63 and MS-64, with MS-65s being on the upper end of typical production and MS-66s and above being scarce. PCGS has only attributed four coins to be Full Torch, while NGC has holdered fourteen. These figures are implausibly low, but the general mushiness of the date and normal attrition will place a hard limit on the possible number of high end Full Torch coins on the market. That mint sets containing 1969 dimes also include a 40% silver clad Kennedy half dollar raise the spectre of risk that many of these perceived “low value” sets will be broken apart and destroyed without regard to saving better preserved dimes.

Further adding to the mystique of the 1969 dime is the newly publicized reverse die variety (CONECA: RDV-002), which apparently uses the high relief proof reverse of 1968 on certain circulation strike dimes (the Philadelphia Mint would do the same thing three years later with the 1972 Eisenhower dollar reverse). How many of these RDVs got out into the wild? And as interest in the date is still relatively small, we may have to wait for a clear picture of things. For you thrill-seekers out there, this is a golden opportunity.

Conclusion

As we said before, the hobby is 47 years into the clad era and much is still unknown. Nevertheless, by seriously diving into series like the Roosevelt dime, you are in some respects ahead of the curve. The low hanging fruit is still out there to be had at reasonable prices if one employs patience, common sense, and tenacity as one looks through countless rolls and loose pieces. Buying top pop coins with populations this low is a highly speculative matter. Those that typically bash moderns as being abundantly available are right insofar as we accept that the vast majority of what’s being held back is MS-65 or poorer, that less than half are fully-struck, and that fewer still are problem free. The time comes for every series once viewed as common that collectors realize certain dates aren’t as available as previously thought. It is inevitable that this will happen to the Roosevelt dime. Whether you are buying now for cheap or buying later when collector’s turn their eye towards this great series is up to you.

Have at it and happy hunting!

Flip of a Coin:

A version of Charles’ story about Eisenhower dollars and CAC appears in this month’s Numismatist. He originally pitched the story to the editors of Coin World, who ultimately decided to pass on it. We can’t help but feel that newly-promoted Coin World editor Steve Roach not only missed the point, but is misrepresenting what Charles said. You can read his take here: The value of a CAC sticker.

Oldie but Goodie: If you haven’t read The Encyclopedia of United States Silver and Gold Commemorative Coins (1981) by Anthony Swiatek and Walter Breen, you should. Not only is it a wealth of information that you won’t find in any other book on the topic (not even Q. David Bowers’ truncated Commemorative book now published by Whitman). The book is filled with expert insights, photos of original packaging and marketing materials, and much more. Used copies can be found online without much trouble.

Doing our part: There are more than twice as many Friendly Eagle Variety (RDV-006) 1971-D Eisenhower dollars than 1972 Type II Eisenhower dollars. Let’s tell Whitman that the FEV should be listed alongside the 1971-D as a major (Red Book) variety for 2014. By some accounts, the FEV was the first produced circulation strike Ike. It’s recent discovery should not relegate it to the status of specialist’s variety.

Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker
Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker
Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker have been contributing authors on CoinWeek since 2012. They also wrote the monthly "Market Whimsy" column and various feature articles for The Numismatist and the book 100 Greatest Modern World Coins (2020) for Whitman Publishing.

Related Articles

6 COMMENTS

  1. I find it interesting that, though published in May, this appears to be the first comment made. Why is that? Here is what I call a superb piece of numismatic penmanship: insightful; thought provoking; absence hype and well documented. Could it be that we have fallen into a state where the only things worth reading are the pronouncements of the elite. In other words, if WE don’t say an idea has merit, then don’t bother pursuing it. While I am certainly a newcomer to the world of numismatism, I have had a rich and life-long career (now at an end) in analytics; with that term defined in its broadest sense, and felt that this would be a fruitful way to spend my now abundance of free-time. However, while clearly a field abundant in content and forum, I have found far too often the stifling presence of “fact by edict”. To have stumbled across such a piece at this particular point in time is both refreshing and renewing of hope. Well done my friend, well done.

  2. Thank you for the comment. I wish that I would have seen it sooner. In fact, I wouldn’t have seen it at all were it not for my co-writer Hubert Walker, who reviewed this piece while preparing to publish an article, which again briefly touches on clad dimes.

    Hubert and I plan at some point in the future to compile and update many of our best pieces and publish them as a numismatic abstract. Frankly, you are the type of reader that product is geared for and we are thrilled to make your acquaintance.

  3. Roosevelt dimes were the second series I completed. First for me was Washington Quarters 1932-1998. However I certainly felt better on my Roosevelt dimes as it’s possible to put together a full uncirculated set on a limited budget that are highly attractive to look at. Now as I’ve moved along the next challenge is a full certified set with all the full bands I can get.

    Thanks for a great article.

  4. I rank the FDR dime second to the bottom of all US series in the preference scale (only ahead of small dollars) and don’t see any reason it’s going to change.

    It is a small and predominantly base metal coin. It is overwhelmingly considered one of the least attractive designs in US coinage. Except in the narrow sense of grade, strike or as a die variety, it is exceedingly common. It is only “scarce” using this narrow criteria in some instances compared to the even more common immediate classic predecessors. This isn’t exactly a compelling combination which is going to inspire a much larger number to prefer it or spend their money to buy it instead of something else.

    There are no keys in this series. The examples cited here make the term meaningless.

    In the internet age unlike the past, there is no need for collectors with a limited budget to limit themselves to a series such as this one just because it is among or the least expensive US series (once again, excluding small dollars) if they a limited budget. Except for someone searching rolls, there are a large number of modern or somewhat earlier world coin series which cost the same or even much less which have a lot more going for them.

  5. Trying to do some research on a dime I found in a random BU roll of mixed dates I have in my collection. Fs-10-1967-101 (019) and it looks iidentical to the one pictured in cherrypickers compared to same variety pictured in “strike it rich with pocket change”. Love finding varietys and errors but isnt my real numismatic passion. Anyways variety vista had in red that they needed an example for the variety I found and I need to find how and who to get in touch with. Also was curious if this is a coin worth getting slabbed but from looking at pcgs coinfacts and heritage auction archives I havnt been able to find info on past sales. Awesome article above and thank you.
    Ben

  6. Fun Facts About the 1982 No P Dime (Strong Variety):

    1. It’s far cheaper than the 1916-D dime, which has six times the total PCGS/NGC population.
    2. It’s the only business strike in ANY denomination whose mint mark was omitted by mistake.
    3. The total PCGS/NGC population is merely 2,744, and some (or many?) of those are no doubt resubmissions or crossovers of the same coins.
    4. Ohio dealer Clyde Englehardt sold the majority of known specimens.
    5. Many fakes exist, some altered from normal 1982-P dimes, so PCGS/NGC certification is mandatory.
    6. Prices could explode if the coin folders include a slot, a huge dealer markets them, or they receive publicity from the mass media.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Park Avenue Numismatics Gold and Silver Bullion

AU Capital Management US gold Coins

Blanchard and Company Gold and Precious Metals