Specifications
- Denomination
- 10 cents
- Series
- Roosevelt Dimes
- Designer
- John R. Sinnock
- Years of issue
- 1975
- Composition
- 75% Copper, 25% Nickel
- Weight
- 2.27 g
- Diameter
- 17.9 mm
- Edge
- Reeded
- Key mintages
- Proof error; 2 known of 2.84 million 1975 proof sets produced (Coin World). Weight/composition are the standard clad Roosevelt dime spec (GreatCollections).
Melt value: $0.02
Only two are known, and they are the priciest modern U.S. coins ever sold at auction: one brought $506,250 at GreatCollections in October 2024 (Coin World), the other $456,000 at Heritage Long Beach in September 2019 — then sold again five days later for $516,000 (Numismatic News). It exists ONLY as a proof: a 1975 dime in a sealed proof set with no “S” above the date is the discovery of a lifetime.
What it is
- A 1975 Roosevelt dime struck as a proof at San Francisco but missing its “S” mintmark — a proof error known by exactly two examples, and the priciest modern U.S. coin ever sold at auction. It is routinely ranked the #1 modern U.S. issue (first place in 100 Greatest U.S. Modern Coins by Scott Schechter and Jeff Garrett), and it is famously missing from the Smithsonian, ANS, and ANA institutional collections (Coin World; Numismatic News; accessed 2026-09-17).
- Its value rests on two facts that can never change: there are exactly two, and both are spoken for (Coin World; Numismatic News; accessed 2026-09-17).
How it happened
- The U.S. Mint produced 2.84 million proof sets in 1975 at San Francisco, every coin bearing the S mintmark — except the dimes in two of those sets. Somehow a proof dime die without the S was used for a tiny run, and the two sets reached a California woman who had ordered five proof sets directly from the Mint. Both known examples come from her sets; she sold the first to well-known Chicago dealer F.J. Vollmer & Co. in 1978 and the second in 1979. She had originally paid face value for the sets (Coin World; Numismatic News; accessed 2026-09-17).
How to identify
- Proof only: the genuine coin is a proof — mirror fields, razor-sharp strike, deep cameo contrast — struck at San Francisco and issued in a 1975 proof set, simply missing the S above the date. A 1975 dime in a sealed proof set with no “S” above the date is the discovery of a lifetime (Coin World; PCGS; accessed 2026-09-17).
- Circulation dimes don’t count: a business-strike 1975 dime never had an S (all 1975 circulation dimes came from Philadelphia without a mark), so the coin is only valuable as the proof-set error. A circulated-looking 1975 dime without an S is a normal Philadelphia business strike worth face value (Coin World; PCGS; accessed 2026-09-17).
- With only two known, both certified and pedigreed, no one should expect to find a third — but every 1975 proof set deserves a look at the dime (Coin World; accessed 2026-09-17).
Authentication red flags
- Both known examples are certified and pedigreed (PCGS Proof-68 and PCGS Proof-67 CAC-approved). Any newly claimed example would have to survive third-party authentication against that record — treat it with extreme skepticism until PCGS or NGC has spoken (Coin World; Numismatic News; accessed 2026-09-17).
- Face-value lookalikes: ordinary Philadelphia business-strike 1975 dimes also carry no S and are worth one dime. Only the proof finish — mirror fields and sharp strike from a 1975 proof set — separates the rarity from pocket change (Coin World; PCGS; accessed 2026-09-17).
- The 2019 sale is often miscited: the $456,000 result was at the September Long Beach Signature Auction (Heritage), with the $516,000 private resale five days later — not an August Stack’s Bowers sale (research notes; Numismatic News; accessed 2026-09-17).
Notable examples
- The finer example (PCGS Proof-68): passed through dealer Ken Goldman to Stack’s Bowers’ ANA Rarities Night in August 2011, where it realized $349,600. At Heritage’s September 2019 Long Beach sale it was jointly purchased for $456,000 by modern-coin specialist Mitch Spivack, his son Justin, and collector Steven Heller — then resold five days later through agent Nick Cascio for $516,000 to an anonymous avid Roosevelt dime collector, joining the Halcyon Collection, which holds the finest-known example in the PCGS Set Registry (Numismatic News; accessed 2026-09-17).
- The other example (PCGS Proof-67, CAC-approved): surfaced from a family that had kept it in a bank vault for over 40 years — the consignors’ parents bought it in 1978 for $18,200. After nearly five decades it sold at GreatCollections on October 27, 2024 for $506,250, a new all-time auction record for the issue — almost 30 times what the family paid, with over 400 bidders tracking the lot. Coin World staff had inspected the coin, still sealed in its original set, back in 1977 before its error status was certified and revealed to the public (Coin World; accessed 2026-09-17).
- 1975 — 2 known only; both discovered in 1975 proof sets bought by one California woman; sold to Chicago dealer F.J. Vollmer & Co. in 1978 and 1979 (Coin World; Numismatic News; accessed 2026-09-17).
What drives value
- Registry-set competition: the coin is essential to any complete Roosevelt dime collection and irreplaceable in the PCGS Set Registry, where the Halcyon Collection holds the finest-known example (Numismatic News; Coin World; accessed 2026-09-17).
- A rising record: each auction appearance has set a higher record — $349,600 (2011), $456,000 and $516,000 (2019), $506,250 (2024) — and specialists consider the finer of the two one of the crown jewels of modern numismatics (Numismatic News; Coin World; accessed 2026-09-17).
- Permanent scarcity: ranked #1 modern U.S. issue, missing from the Smithsonian, ANS, and ANA — exactly two exist and both are spoken for (Coin World; accessed 2026-09-17).
Market check
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Specifications
- Denomination
- 10 cents
- Series
- Roosevelt Dimes
- Designers
- John R. Sinnock (GreatCollections; accessed 2026-09-17)
- Year / Mint
- 1975, San Francisco (struck as a proof at San Francisco; bears no S mintmark in error) (Coin World; accessed 2026-09-17)
- Mintage
- None published — proof error; 2 known of 2.84 million 1975 proof sets produced (Coin World; accessed 2026-09-17)
- Composition
- Copper-nickel clad: outer layers 75% copper, 25% nickel; core pure copper (GreatCollections; accessed 2026-09-17)
- Weight
- 2.27 grams (GreatCollections; accessed 2026-09-17)
- Diameter
- 17.9 mm (GreatCollections; accessed 2026-09-17)
- Edge
- Reeded
- Alignment
- Coin alignment
Sources
- Coin World — “Proof 1975-S, No S dime sells for new record price” ($506,250 GreatCollections, Oct 2024; 2 known) (accessed 2026-09-17)
- Numismatic News — “Record-Breaking 1975 No S Proof Dime Quickly Re-Sold For $516,000” (Sep 2019 Heritage $456,000 → $516,000 resale; PR68; discovery history) (accessed 2026-09-17)
- Numismatic News — “Heritage Offering a 1975 No S Dime at Long Beach” (2011 Stack’s Bowers $349,600; $18,200/$38,550 Vollmer sales) (accessed 2026-09-17)
