Rare Dime With Missing Mint Mark Sells for Over $500,000

A dime struck by the US Mint in San Francisco in 1975 has sold for a record-breaking $506,250. This extraordinarily rare coin, missing its distinctive “S” mint mark, is one of only two known to exist, The Associated Press reports.

The dime, a Franklin D. Roosevelt proof coin, was inherited by three sisters from Ohio following the death of their brother. Their brother had kept the coin in a bank vault for over 40 years. The coin was sold in an online auction through GreatCollections, an auction house based in Irvine, California.

The only other known example of the “1975 ‘no S’ proof dime” sold for $456,000 in a 2019 auction and then again months later to a private collector.

The San Francisco mint produced over 2.8 million special uncirculated “proof” sets in 1975, each featuring six coins and sold for $7. In the late 1970s, collectors discovered that two dimes from these sets were missing the mint mark.

The sisters from Ohio, who wished to remain anonymous, explained to Russell that their brother and mother had purchased the first error coin discovered in 1978 for $18,200, a hefty sum at the time. Today, that amount would equate to roughly $90,000. The sisters’ parents, who ran a dairy farm, saw the coin as a financial safety net.