OHIO (AP) – An extraordinarily rare dime whose whereabouts had remained a mystery since the late 1970s has sold for just over USD500,000.
The coin, which was struck by the United States (US) Mint in San Francisco in 1975, depicts President Franklin D Roosevelt and is one of just two known to exist without its distinctive “S” mint mark.
Three sisters from Ohio inherited the dime after the death of their brother, who had kept it in a bank vault for more than 40 years.
The coin sold for USD506,250 in an online auction that concluded on Sunday, according to Ian Russell, president of GreatCollections, an auction house based in Irvine, California.
The only other known example of the “1975 ‘no S’ proof dime” sold at a 2019 auction for USD456,000 and then again months later to a private collector.
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 USD7.
Collectors a few years later discovered that two dimes from the set were missing the mint mark.
Russell said the sisters from Ohio, who wanted to remain anonymous, told him that they inherited one of those two dimes but that their brother and mother bought the first error coin discovered in 1978 for USD18,200, which would amount to roughly USD90,000 today.
Their parents, who operated a dairy farm, saw the coin as a financial safety net.
