1968-S 10C PR69 Certification #40542641, PCGS #5244

Charles Morgan

The 1968-S Roosevelt Dime Proof

The United States Mint suspended Proof production following record demand in 1964. The Coinage Act of 1965 resulted in a change in coinage composition for the Roosevelt Dime and Washington Quarter from .900 fine silver to a copper-nickel clad. The Kennedy Half Dollar was spared from total debasement, but the coin's composition was changed to a 40% silver-clad format. This change resulted in exponential increases in the mintages of quarters and dimes, but it likely doomed the half dollar to a future of non-circulation.

During the transition to clad coinage, the Mint suspended the use of mintmarks to differentiate the output of the Denver and San Francisco branches from the mother mint in Philadelphia. The Mint also pared down its numismatic offerings, producing a new annual set, the Special Mint Set, which consisted of Prooflike specimen strikings of each of the year's five coins.

In 1968, Mint Director Eva Adams determined that the nation was adequately supplied with circulating coinage. At the behest of the American Numismatic Association, she suspended the moratorium on mintmarks, setting the stage for the 1968-D and 1968-S circulating coinage, as well as the 1968-S Proof issues.

Before 1968, the San Francisco Assay Office (the branch had been downgraded to an Assay Office following the suspension of its coinage operations in 1955) struck the Special Mint Set coins. Due to the mintmark moratorium, these were struck without a mintmark. For the 1968 Proof issues, the "S" mintmark was restored, and its position was moved from the reverse to the obverse, just above the date, to denote the new style.

Collecting the 1968-S Roosevelt Dime Proof

The Mint sold 3,041,506 Proof Sets in 1968, which was approximately 25% less than it sold in 1964. Despite the removal of silver from the quarter and dime, and the reduced silver content of the half dollar, the Mint offered the 1968 sets for more than double the price of the 1964 set. Some collectors bristled at the $5.00 asking price, but the discovery of the 1968 "No S" Roosevelt Dime (#5245) resulted in a treasure hunt that still turns up the occasional example to this day.

For the "normal" 1968-S Roosevelt Dime Proof, the mintmark is present, and the appearance of Cameo frost is dependent upon the strike sequence of the dies. A large portion of the dimes struck are fully brilliant, but frosty Cameos and Deep Cameos survive in sufficient numbers to be highly collectible by the mainstream. Conditionally, Proofs from 1968 onward are more likely to be preserved in grades PCGS PR68 and finer due to the rigid plastic containers in which the coins were shipped. While highly protective, these containers were not airtight, and many coins exhibit a thin film of toning. Proof 70s across the full range of Brilliant to Deep Cameo remain rare.

Proof Roosevelt Dimes are not denoted as having "Full Torches," as strike quality is typically not an issue for Proofs. For the 1968-S Dime, PCGS recognizes five Cherrypickers' Guide varieties in addition to the famous 1968 "No S."

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