An incredibly rare dime from 1975, missing its distinctive 'S' mint mark, has recently been sold for a staggering $506,250 in an online auction. This particular coin, featuring President Franklin D. Roosevelt, is one of only two known to exist without the mint mark. The dime was struck by the U.S. Mint in San Francisco and was part of a special uncirculated 'proof' set that included six coins, sold for $7 back in 1975.
The dime's journey to the auction block is quite fascinating. It had been kept in a bank vault for over 40 years by a man from Ohio, who passed away, leaving it to his three sisters. The siblings inherited the dime and decided to put it up for auction, where it fetched an impressive price.
Interestingly, the other known example of the '1975 'no S' proof dime' was sold in 2019 for $456,000 and later acquired by a private collector. The discovery of these missing mint mark dimes came a few years after the initial release of the proof sets, with collectors realizing that two dimes were without the mint mark.
The sisters from Ohio, who chose to remain anonymous, revealed that their family had acquired the first error coin found in 1978 for $18,200, which would be equivalent to around $90,000 today. Their parents, who ran a dairy farm, saw the coin as a valuable financial asset and held onto it for decades.
