Three sisters from Ohio who inherited a dime kept in a bank vault for more than 40 years knew it had some value, but they had no idea just how much until just a few years ago.
The extraordinarily rare coin, struck by the US Mint in San Francisco in 1975, could bring more than US$500,000, said Ian Russell, president of GreatCollections, which specializes in currency and is handling an online auction that ends next month.
What makes the dime depicting former US president Franklin D. Roosevelt so valuable is a missing “S” mint mark for San Francisco, one of just two without the mark known to exist. The other sold at a 2019 auction for US$456,000 and then again months later to a private collector.
A 1975 proof set dime mistakenly made without the San Francisco Mint’s letter “S” is pictured in an undated photograph.
Photo: GreatCollections via AP
While serious coin collectors have long known about the existence of the two rare dimes, their whereabouts had remained a mystery since the late 1970s.
“They were hidden for decades.” Russell said. “Most major collectors and dealers have never seen one.”
The mint in San Francisco made more than 2.8 million special uncirculated “proof” sets in 1975 that featured six coins and were sold for US$7. Collectors a few years later discovered that two dimes from the set were missing the mint mark.
The sisters from Ohio who inherited one of those two dimes after the recent death of their brother want to remain anonymous given their sudden windfall, Russell said.
They shared with Russell that their brother and mother in 1978 bought the first error coin discovered for US$18,200, which would amount to about US$90,000 today. Their parents, who operated a dairy farm, saw the coin as a financial safety net.
One of the sisters said her brother often talked about the rare coin, but she never saw it first-hand until last year.
Russell, whose company is based in Irvine, California, said their brother reached out to him about seven years ago and eventually told him about the coin.
He too kept the secret.
When Russell told one of the sisters just a few years ago about the coin’s potential value, he said she asked: “Is that really possible?”
