Years
Designer
John R. Sinnock
Composition
90% silver to 1964; cupronickel clad thereafter
Diameter
17.91 mm
Mass
2.27 g
Thickness
1.35 mm
Edge
Reeded
Mints
Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, West Point
Metal
Clad
Design
FDR in profile, issued the year after his death, with a torch, olive, and oak on the reverse. JS initials sparked a brief Red Scare rumor that they stood for Joseph Stalin.
History
Sinnock’s dime is the circulating tribute to the president who had polio and who built the March of Dimes. Silver ended in 1964 with the rest of circulating coinage. Proofs from San Francisco, plus 1996-W and later West Point issues, populate modern registries. Full-torch bands are the strike designation. The type is still current and still the smallest circulating U.S. silver-heritage coin.
Key dates
Varieties
1965-P · 1965 silver Roosevelt
wrong planchet · rare
1968-S · 1968 No S proof
omitted mintmark · key
1970-S · 1970 No S proof
omitted mintmark · key
1975-S · 1975 No S proof
omitted mintmark · stopper
1982-P · 1982 No P
omitted mintmark · scarce
173 issues