60th Anniversary of the Roosevelt Dime

The first Roosevelt Silver Dime was minted 60 years ago in 1946 as a tribute to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died in office the previous year. The Dime was an appropriate tribute, because Roosevelt was instrumental in establishing the March of Dimes to help find a cure for polio (a disease from which he suffered).

When it was first minted in 1946, the Roosevelt Silver Dime was struck in .900 pure silver. It was made at three different U.S. Mints – Philadelphia (no Mint mark), Denver (“D” mark on reverse, above the “E” in “ONE”), and San Francisco (“S” mark).

This collection includes one first-year 1946 Roosevelt Silver Dime from each of the three mints where it was struck (Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco).  It is a complete first-year silver coin collection that has been specially assembled to celebrate the coin’s 60th anniversary.

The coin was designed by John R. Sinnock.  One side shows a portrait of Roosevelt.  The other side features flaming torch (a symbol of liberty and freedom) in the center.  A sprig of laurel on the left (a symbol of civic glory) and a sprig of oak on the right (a symbol of military glory) pay tribute to Roosevelt’s New Deal policies that transformed America in the Great Depression, as well as his leadership in World War II.

The last Roosevelt Silver Dime was minted in 1964, when the composition was changed to copper-nickel due to the rising cost of silver.  The first-year 1946 coins are never seen in circulation today.  Millions of coins were melted for the precious silver when the price of silver bullion soared to over $50 an ounce in 1980.  Millions more coins were also melted at other times when silver prices spiked.  To make matters worse, most of these coins were worn out or damaged in circulation due to their “workhorse” nature at the time of issue.

As a result, there are fewer and fewer of these coins available to collectors every year.  For this collection, we have carefully selected only those coins in collectible condition.

The three-coin collection is presented in a custom wallet and includes a Certificate of Authenticity.