The Silver Roosevelt Dime - A Brief History

The Roosevelt Dime is a familiar U.S. coin used by most Americans on a daily basis. Not as well known is the Silver Roosevelt Dime, the predecessor to the current clad dime which was minted from 1946-1964. Here is how the Silver Roosevelt Dime became the silver-LESS Roosevelt Dime...

In the early 1960's, silver coins were being hoarded rather than remaining in circulation. Silver had risen from about 90 cents per ounce in 1960 to around $1.30 by 1964.  If this continued, as many people assumed, the value of these coins would rise based strictly on the melt value of their silver content. 

The U.S. Treasury tried to prevent this hoarding by increasing the silver coinage available during this time. In the case of Silver Roosevelt Dimes, there were about 270,460,400 produced for general circulation in 1960 which, by 1964, had increased to 2,286,877,180.  

Their strategy didn't work. The hoarding of silver coins continued and soon it would cost 11 cents in silver to produce a ten cent coin. So, beginning in 1965, most silver coins were discontinued including the Silver Roosevelt Dime. Today's clad Roosevelt Dime is made of .750 copper and .250 nickel except for silver proofs which still contain the original amount of silver.  

The Silver Roosevelt Dime - Useful Facts

The Silver Roosevelt Dime features the head of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (the 32nd U.S. President) on the obverse side with the reverse side featuring a torch with olive branch and oak branch on either side (click on either image of this Roosevelt 1964 Silver Dime to see a larger, more detailed image). 

Three U. S. Mints were involved with the production of Silver Roosevelt Dimes: Denver, San Francisco and Philadelphia. The mint mark is located on the reverse side - lower left (click on the above right image - the red dot is where the mint mark is located). Mint marks are "D" for Denver and "S" for the San Francisco Mints. If no mint mark appears, it was minted in Philadelphia.

Silver Roosevelt Dimes are 90% silver and 10% copper. Uncirculated silver dimes contain .0723 Troy ounces of pure silver with a gross weight of .080 Troy ounces (2.50 grams). Circulated silver dimes are considered to contain .0715 Troy ounces of pure silver due to the "wear factor" in handling these coins. The silver content of fourteen silver dimes equals approximately one ounce of silver. 


To determine a circulated Silver Roosevelt Dime value, multiply .0715 times the current spot price of silver (can be found on the Home Page).

Example: $17.00 x .0715 = $1.2155