Roosevelt Silver Dimes

 

1953 Roosevelt Silver Dime
The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Silver Dime came into being on time for the remembrance of his birthday on January 30th, 1946.  The US’ only four term president had passed away the year before on April 12th, 1945.  The dime was selected mostly because FDR’s association with the “March of Dimes”.  FDR was struck by polio as an adult and managed to survive, however he was never able to walk on his own ever since.


In 1926 he started the non-profit Georgia Warm Springs Foundation to allow others to hopefully find help from the springs therapeutic effects.  In 1938 he founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP).  During a fundraiser the celebrity singer Eddie Cantor had cracked a joke.  Cantor’s urging of the listeners to send their dimes to FDR was taken seriously.  During the following days and weeks 2,680,000 dimes were sent to the White House.  Quickly the “March of Dimes” replaced NFIP.


The FDR is still in use today over sixty years later.  There have been almost no changes in the appearance to John R. Sinnock’s design of the Roosevelt dime.  The most significant was in 1964 when the Roosevelt Silver Dime (and silver quarter) were converted the current to nickel clad alloy.  At this time the mint mark was moved from the reverse to the obverse (just above the date and below the base of FDR’s head).


From 1946 to 1964 the Roosevelt Silver Dime was composed of 90% silver and 10% copper.  These weigh 2.5g and are 17.9mm in diameter with a Reeded edge.


The obverse has Roosevelt’s head facing left and “LIBERTY” encircling the left rim.  In smaller lettering on the lower left under his chin is “IN GOD” stacked over “WE TRUST” the date is on the lower right just under his neck line.  “JS”, the designer’s initials (not Joseph Stalin’s as rumors had suggested), is in even smaller letters is just left of the date.


The reverse has a torch in the center with an olive branch on the left and an oak branch on its right.  Inserted precariously across the mid-lower portion is “E PLURIBUS UNUM”.  “. ONE DIME .” encircles the bottom of the coin with “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” encircling the top.  A mint mark if applicable will be just left of bottom of the torch.  “D” is used for Denver and “S” is for San Francisco.  None is used for Philadelphia, however in 1980 “P” started being used, and still is for Philadelphia.


Although the nickel/copper clad copper core was adopted in 1965 for the Roosevelt dime, the Mint has issued the silver version for collectors in their Uncirculated and Proof sets.  Most of the circulated silver coins do not have much numismatic value compared to their melt value concerning their silver content.  Even the Mint State coins are available enough to put together a series.  There were some interesting irregularities in this series among them would be 1964D which has a double die reverse.  Some of the MS65s and better can get a little pricy, and so are some of the Roosevelt Silver Dime Proofs (which weren’t struck until 1950).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Silver Proof Coins

Image
Proof Silver American Eagle coin. (Photo by sirquitos)  Silver Proof Coins are more sought after than regular struck coins.  Proof coins were originally used to test and check the dies before striking of a series.  Now, Silver Proof coins are a special striking of a coin for a collector.  Proof coins are made on highly polished blanks (planchetes) to yield a mirror effect and treated with special dies.  They are also struck with extra pressure and a longer hold time.  In addition they are struck at least twice.  The combination of these techniques brings out more of the coin’s detail. Silver Proof Coins are done in smaller volumes than general issued currency and more time is taken in the process.  Therefore the mint charges prices much higher than standard mint sets, and the smaller quantity usually causes a higher return on the investment. Proof coins usually are graded in the 60-70 range and indicated with a “PR” or “PF” before their grade....
Read more

Capped Bust Quarter

Image
  1822 Capped Bust Quarter The Capped Bust Quarter was designed by German emigrant John Reich.  This silver coin was minted as needed from 1815 to 1838, the Spanish ‘2 reales’ (two-bits) was still in use and containing less silver United States quarters were often hoarded.  1831 saw the adaption of the Collar Die technique to the quarter striking press which allowed a singled strike for the faces of the silver coins and the reeded edge.  This created two Types of silver quarters in this series: the Small Size Capped Bust Quarters; “With Moto” or “Scroll on Reverse” from 1815 to 1828 and the Large Size Capped Bust Quarter; “No Moto” or “No Scroll on Reverse” from 1831 to 1838.  Proof strikes started in 1820, only five to ten were usually struck for each year of production, except in 1827 when about 35 were coined, however 1827 was the smallest business strike with only 4,000 making it the key date.  There are a few variations for some of the years. No silver...
Read more