This coin is not a dime a dozen.
A rare dime with a glaring misprint that an Ohio family kept hidden for nearly four decades was sold at an auction for over $500,000.
The coin, minted in 1975, features President Franklin D. Roosevelt just like any other dime in the US.
However, its whopping value lies in an error previously only found on one other dime — it’s missing the distinctive “S” mint mark that all coins manufactured in San Francisco are required to have.
displayed in a plastic container. AP
The only other known dime missing the “S” mint is one also made in 1975 that was sold for $456,000 at auction in 2019. It was later sold a second time to a private collector.
Both coins were made in 1975 when the US Mint in San Francisco manufactured more than 2.8 million special uncirculated “proof” sets featuring six coins. At the time, the sets were sold for $7– the equivalent to just about $40 today.
Collectors didn’t realize until years later that two dimes from the set were missing the usually-standard “S.”
Three sisters from Ohio, who have opted to remain anonymous, inherited the coin from their deceased brother, who had hidden the dime in a bank vault all these years.
The sisters claim that their brother and mother had previously purchased the coin in 1978 when it was first discovered for $18,200, roughly $90,000 today, as a possible financial safety net for the future.
The coin sold for $506,250 during an online auction that ended on Sunday, according to Ian Russell, president of the GreatCollections auction house based in Irvine, California.
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