Rare 1975 Roosevelt dime sells for over $500,000 at auction | US News
A rare coin that had been stored in a bank vault since the late 1970s has been sold at auction in the US for over $500,000 (£385,000).
The coin is a US dime produced by the US Mint in San Francisco in 1975.
Termed as “one of the rarest coins of the 20th century” on the US Mint’s website, it depicts a profile of former US President Franklin Roosevelt.
What sets it apart is the absence of the distinctive ‘S’ mint mark – only two dimes from that year are known to exist without it.
After their brother’s passing, three sisters from Ohio, who wished to remain anonymous, inherited the dime which had been kept in a bank vault for over 40 years.
The dime was sold for $506,250 in an online auction that concluded on Sunday, according to Ian Russell, president of California-based GreatCollections.
Another “1975 ‘no S’ proof dime” was sold at auction in 2019 for $456,000 (£351,000) before being acquired by a private collector.
These two coins were not meant for general circulation, as they were part of a special batch of 2.8 million uncirculated proof sets made by the San Francisco mint in 1975, comprising six coins that were sold at the time for $7 (£5).
A few years later, collectors discovered that two dimes from the set were missing the mint mark.
The sisters revealed to Mr. Russell that they had inherited one of the two dimes, while their brother and mother had purchased the first error coin found in 1978 for $18,200 (£14,000), equivalent to approximately $90,000 (£69,000) today.
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Their parents, who ran a dairy farm, considered the coin a nest egg, they disclosed.
The proof sets also contained an [Abraham] Lincoln Cent, a [Thomas] Jefferson Nickel, a Bicentennial [George] Washington Quarter, a Bicentennial [John F] Kennedy Half Dollar, and a Bicentennial [Dwight] Eisenhower Dollar.
The last three coins were dated 1976, part of the US Mint’s preparations for America’s 200th birthday the following year and were included to boost sales.
