1964 Roosevelt Dime

1964 was the last year of 90 percent silver regular-issue Roosevelt dimes. Why? This was due to the skyrocketing price of silver, which had been increasing on a yearly basis over the course of the early 1960s. The rising intrinsic value of silver had prompted many enterprising individuals to hoard all silver coins, including Roosevelt dimes, from circulation, thus causing a major nationwide coin shortage. The United States Mint responded by churning out massive numbers of Roosevelt dimes in 1964 – in fact, very close to 2 billion dimes were made that year.

Here’s a glance at the mintages for 1964 Roosevelt dimes:

• 1964 – 929,360,000; $3

• 1964-D – 1,357,517,180; $3

• 1964-D doubled die reverse – mintage unknown; $35

• 1964 proof – 3,950,762; $4

*Values are for coins in a grade of Extremely Fine 40, unless otherwise noted. 

Both the 1964 and 1964-D have slight variations in the appearance of the tail of the “9.” Dimes minted in early 1964 feature a pointed tail, whereas those produced later in the year have a blunted tail. Similar differences in the tail of the “9” can be seen among proof specimens as well. While these variations are considered something of an interesting novelty for the most enthusiastic Roosevelt dime collectors to study and collect, there is currently no significant difference in value between either of the two varieties.

Beginning in 1965, regular-issue Roosevelt dimes would be made from a cupro-nickel clad composition to help reduce the rising cost of producing dimes, which had been made from silver since the denomination’s inception in 1796. To mitigate collecting activities among numismatists, who were wrongfully blamed by the government for the huge coin shortage, dimes minted from 1965 through 1967 contained no mintmarks.