Decades ago, three sisters from Ohio inherited a 10-cent piece. Tucked away in a bank vault, today the dime could bring a huge windfall.
The U.S. Mint in San Francisco struck the extremely rare coin in 1975. Ian Russell is president of GreatCollections, a company that specializes in currency. It is also handling an online auction for the dime. The auction will end in October. Russell believes the coin could bring more than $500,000.
Serious coin collectors have long known about the existence of two rare dimes, both coined in 1975. However, their whereabouts has been a mystery since the late 1970s.
“They were hidden for decades.” Russell says. “Most major collectors and dealers have never seen one.”
The 70s dime depicts President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The coin is so valuable because it is missing an S mint mark. The letter stands for San Francisco.
The coin is just one of two without the mark known to exist. The other one sold in 2019 for $456,000. It sold again months later to a private collector.
The mint in San Francisco made more than 2.8 million uncirculated “proof” sets in 1975. So-called proof sets feature one coin from each denomination: penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar, and dollar. The six coins in the 1975 sets sold for $7. A few years later, collectors discovered that two dimes from the set were missing the mint mark.
The sisters from Ohio inherited one of those two dimes after the recent death of their brother. The women wish to remain anonymous, Russell says.
The sisters’ brother and mother bought the first error coin in 1978. They paid $18,200—an amount equal to about $90,000 today. The sisters’ parents operated a dairy farm and saw the coin as a financial safety net.
One of the sisters says her brother talked about the rare coin often. But she never saw it firsthand until last year.
Russell, whose company is based in Irvine, California, says the brother reached out to him about seven years ago and eventually told him about the coin. Russell kept the secret.
A few years ago, Russell told one of the sisters about the coin’s potential value. He says she remarked, “Is that really possible?”
The coin, known as the “1975 ‘no S’ proof dime,” will appear at a coin show beginning Wednesday in Tampa, Florida. By the end of October, that sister should have her answer.
There is a small chance more examples of the rare dime exist “in the wild.” But they would only be among the 1975 “proof” sets and not in anyone’s pocket change, Russell says.
Still, he expects this latest discovery to set off a lot of searching.
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” — Hebrews 13:5
