A dime from 1975 sold for $506,250 Sunday night.
Why?
It’s missing an “s.”
The 1975 Proof dime was found in 1977 by a California collector who purchased five 1975 Proof Sets from the U.S. Mint. She soon discovered two of the coins were missing the “S” mint mark.
She sent one of them into “Coin World,” a numismatic trade publication, which reported at the time the dime was examined and sent on to the American Numismatic Association Certification Service, which determined it was authentic. At the time, “Coin World” reported one other unverified coin of its kind had been previously found.
It was then sold to an Illinois coin dealer named Fred Vollmer, who offered collectors a deal. If anyone on his mailing list purchased another “No S dime” (a few thousand from other years are known), then they would have the chance to purchase the 1975 Proof dime.
The lucky winner was a collector who went by Ruth E, who purchased it for $18,200, according to Antique Trader. Ruth kept the rare 1975 Proof in her possession for decades stored it in an Ohio bank vault, telling nobody.
Now, the coin is up for auction, with a current bid of $324,500, with buyer’s premium, with more than two weeks remaining.
According to Coin World, the Mint struck 2.8 million Proof 1975-S Roosevelt dimes to include in its proof sets for that year. All of them were supposed to include an “S” mark to indicate it had been struck in San Francisco (only two are known to exist without the “S”). The proof sets were made available to collects for $7 each.
The same year, more than 585 million Roosevelt dimes were produced without a Mint mark, but that was intentional, as they were intended for general circulation.
In Garrett’s and Schechter’s 100 Greatest U.S. Modern Coins Book, the 1975 No S Proof has ranked as the No. 1 coin in the book. In 2011, the only other example sold for $349,600, when it was acquired by a Florida collector. After the collector's death in 2019, the coin was auctioned again, this time for $456,000.
According to the auction house, Great Collections, it was then sold again “within days” to a Roosevelt Dime collector, who currently has the only complete series, for $516,000.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.