You can buy candy, a rubber ball, or a small plastic toy with a dime. You can’t buy any expensive item with it since it’s worth 10 cents, but what if one of your dimes is actually worth more — up to $9,000 — than it usually would because it’s silver? If you want to test your luck and see if you have one of the rare silver 1965 Roosevelt dimes, this article will help you know if you have one and what you can do with it.
How Do I Know If My 1965 Dime Is Silver?
If you’re looking for a way to tell if your 1965 dime is silver, there are three things you need to check: weight, coin edge and mint mark.
1965 Silver Dime Weight
If you weigh your 1965 dime on a weighing scale, the typical cupronickel variant is 2.27 grams or 0.080 ounces. However, a 1965 silver dime is 0.23 grams heavier and weighs in at 2.5 grams or 0.084 ounces. Silver, like iron, is considered a heavy metal because of its density, which is greater than 5.0 g/cm³. However, dimes now contain cupronickel or copper-nickel because of its corrosion resistance and antimicrobial properties.
The silver and copper-nickel dimes’ weights most often — if not always — remain the same, but as the coins continue to circulate, they start to wear out and lose minimal metal and weight.
1965 Dime Coin Edge
One of the fastest ways to know if your 1965 dime is silver is by looking at the coin edge. Both cupronickel and silver 1965 coins look like silver at first glance, but if you see that the strips are a lighter shade of silver, it’s silver. This is because silver reflects 95% of light, but if you see a dull, darker shade of gray, then it’s copper-nickel.
You can also see slight differences in the thickness of every stripe in the coin edge — they refer to this as a ridged edge. Although it’s difficult to spot from a distance, silver 1965 dimes have thinner stripes than the cupronickel ones.
1965 Silver vs. Copper-Nickel Dimension Comparison
The 1965 silver dime has slight differences in terms of thickness. Aside from the weight difference, a regular 1965 dime has a thickness of 1.35mm or 0.053 inches; meanwhile, a 1965 silver dime is at 1.1mm.
1965 Dime Mint Mark
The most apparent characteristic of the silver 1965 dime is its lack of a mintmark. A mint mark is a letter engraved on a coin indicating its place of production. In the US, there are currently four mint marks: P for Philadelphia Mint in Pennsylvania, W for West Point Mint in New York, D for Denver Mint in Colorado, and S for San Francisco Mint in California. From 1965 to 1967, there was a nationwide shortage of coinage. To address the issue, the US government made two interventions: change coin composition from silver to cupronickel starting from 1965, and remove mint marks to discourage collectors from collecting and hoarding coins. Although S and D mint marks were back in 1968, P mint marks only returned in 1979.
Is a 1965 Silver Dime Rare?
From 1946 to 1965, there were dimes to honor the late president Roosevelt made from a 90% silver and 10% copper combination. However, the Coinage Act of 1965 changed the composition of 1965 coins to 75% copper and 25% nickel alloy. That’s why silver dimes from that year were considered “error coins” and are now rare. So, if you find yourself discovering you have one in your possession, make sure to hold on to it and consult a numismatist near you.
Before 1965, all coins, such as dollars, half dollars, quarters, and dimes, were 90% silver. Public Law 88-36 changed this composition from 90% to 40%. In this case, since the 1965 silver dime is both a transitional error and there are only roughly a thousand in quantity compared to 1.6 billion cupronickel coins circulated in the same year, they are very difficult to find. Not to mention that other people are also searching for the same silver coins.
How Much Is a 1965 Silver Dime Worth?
Its rarity as a transitional error coin makes its value continuously increase over time. However, to make sure you can sell the dime for a higher price, it must be in good condition — meaning minimal coin tears.
You can get your silver 1965 coins verified by either the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) or the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC), two certified coin grading services in the US. In the Money Connoisseur’s article, he narrates how he helped a viewer sell their silver Roosevelt dime for $8,912.50 after PCGS graded it as “AU58,” or almost uncirculated.
Other sold 1965 Roosevelt silver dimes are as follows:
- AU58 sold in August 2018 for $6,600
- MS62 sold in September 2019 for $9,900
- MS62 sold in November 2012 for $16,450
As you can see from the shortlist, you can sell your 1965 silver coins for double their price from the past years because of the value added over time. Before auctioning your Roosevelt coin, think twice and consider the value difference if you sell it now or years later in the future.
How to Bag a Silver 1965 Dime?
Although there is a low probability of you ever getting one your entire life, it doesn’t hurt to try some of these tips to increase your odds.
Double check the coins you receive and give. Often, people stick their coins to their wallets and do not even consider looking at them. For someone in the hunt for a 1965 silver dime, be cautious about what year your dime is from to reduce the chances of you unconsciously giving away thousands of dollars’ worth of coins.
Search in bank coin boxes and garage sales. If you have a lot of time and plan to go further into your dime-hunting venture, you can buy coin boxes from banks and start searching for rare finds there.
Conclusion
Since the Roosevelt 1965 silver coin is almost uncirculated because of only nearly 1,000 in existence, and with collectors seeking to buy those, if you find yourself owning one, it’s essential to get your money’s worth (if you decide to sell it). Before you celebrate, if you find one, you should make sure that the dime weight and ridged edge fit the category of a silver coin. If ever you actually, and luckily, find one, well, it’s almost equivalent to winning a generous amount in the lottery.
