The Roosevelt Dime

Values

The Roosevelt dime is the same Sinnock design from 1946 to the present. The alloy changed in 1965. This page is the clad circulating type. Silver years live on the pre-65 Roosevelt dime page. This page does not duplicate that mintage or value table.

A clad Roosevelt’s market depends on the date, the mint mark, and the grade. Melt is not a silver conversation here. Full Torch is a later conversation. This page is a series reference, not a price list.

The G, VF, and MS-63 columns sit in the mintage chart below. Those figures are from the NGC US Coin Price Guide, retrieved 2026-08-23, for the clad type dates NGC printed in this pass. They are a published guide, not an offer and not melt. A blank cell means that grade was not printed in this pass.

A dealer looking at the coin in hand will beat a guide number. If you are trying to sell a pile of them, start with how to sell a coin collection and the Ohio coin dealer directory.

Key Dates

PCGS CoinFacts does not name a traditional key date inside this series. This is a name list, not a price list. Do not invent one. Do not call 1965 a key because the alloy changed.

There is no key-date bolding on the mintage chart for that reason. A worn clad date is still clad.

Errors

These are named varieties. They are not extra pamphlet rows. This page will not invent a count.

Full Torch. That is a strike designation on the bands of the torch. It is not an error and not a G / VF / MS-63 cell. NGC prints a separate Full Torch listing. This chart does not copy those cells onto the business-strike column.

JS under the bust. Those letters are John R. Sinnock’s initials. They are not a variety and not an error.

1965 clad. The alloy changes. The design does not. That is not an error and not a key date.

1982 No P. NGC prints that variety. The mintage cell was blank, so it is name-only here.

This pass does not add Full Torch as extra value rows.

Compare the coin in hand to the NGC Coin Explorer Roosevelt page. We do not host their plates.

Varieties

Clad Roosevelt dimes keep the same design as the silver years. There is no second portrait on this page. A West Point mint mark is the variety guides name.

• 1996-WA West Point dime from the uncirculated set of that year. Guides list the W. It is a mint mark, not a new design. This page does not print a count.

Names follow PCGS CoinFacts and NGC, the same publishers this site already cites. This is a name list, not a price list and not a count.

Mintage

This chart is the clad circulating type, 1965 and later. Silver 1946–1964 mintages live on the pre-65 Roosevelt dime page. This page does not duplicate that table.

Circulating 1965–1967 dimes have no mint mark. The 1974 Mint pamphlet still prints 1965 P and D manufacture cells. Those rows are mint of manufacture, not a letter on the coin. Later clad business strikes NGC left blank are the Wikipedia figures through 2024. 2025 stays off. 2026 is a different dime. 1996-W is a mint-set West Point listing, not a circulation row.

From 1968 the mint mark comes back on circulation strikes.

These are Bureau of the Mint manufacture figures from the 1974 GPO pamphlet for 1965, and NGC Coin Explorer counts for later clad dates on the chart, retrieved 2026-08-23, not a Red Book net or melt. The grade columns in the same box are NGC guide values from 2026-08-23, not an offer. Publisher links sit next to the chart.

Read the date. Read the mint mark left of the torch when there is one. Look at the bands before you argue Full Torch.

Specifications

These are mint specs, not what a dealer pays. Wear can take a little weight off. We will not invent a tolerance.

This page is the clad circulating Roosevelt. Catalogs also print the silver figures, so both sit in the box. The silver years themselves live on the pre-65 Roosevelt dime page. Full Torch is a strike designation. That is not a spec change.

Grading

A Roosevelt dime wears first on Roosevelt’s cheek and hair, and on the bands of the torch. Full Torch is a strike call on those bands — a designation, not a G / VF / MS-63 cell.

This is still John R. Sinnock’s Roosevelt design from 1946 to the present. This page is the clad circulating type, 1965+. 1946–1964 90% silver lives on the pre-65 Roosevelt page. JS under the bust is Sinnock’s initials, not a variety.

Key Diagnostic Areas

Circulated & Mint State

These cards describe this coin, not a second copy of the P-1 through MS-70 chart. The shared numbers live on the glossary.

See graded photos. The photos that show what VF looks like live at PCGS. We do not host their plates. PCGS CoinFacts is the catalog page for this series. NGC Coin Explorer is another look if you want a second set. Guide values on this page came from the NGC Price Guide.

Proof Roosevelt dimes exist for part of the run. They were made as proofs. This page does not invent a PR price grid — NGC did not print one in the 2026-08-23 sheet used here. The proof numbers live on the glossary.

Copper color designations (BN, RB, RD) do not apply here. Those belong on copper coins such as the Indian Head cent. See the Lincoln Wheat cent and the glossary.

Overview

A Roosevelt dime is a United States ten-cent coin with Franklin D. Roosevelt on the front and a torch on the back, struck from 1946 to the present. The circulating type on this page is copper-nickel clad, 1965 and later. Same portrait. Same torch. The alloy changed in 1965.

Silver 1946–1964 — what people mean by pre-65 Roosevelt dimes — lives on the pre-65 Roosevelt dime page.

People like them because the type still reads across a table. A worn clad dime is usually face value plus a dealer’s time. They are also easy to ruin. A wiped coin looks “better” to a seller and worse to everyone else.

This page is a series article, not a shop listing.

History

The series starts in 1946 with John R. Sinnock’s design. It replaces the Mercury dime. In 1965 the Mint changes the circulating dime to clad. The portrait stays. The alloy does not. That is not a key-date story.

This page will not invent a melt story that treats a 1965 dime like silver.

Design

Obverse: Roosevelt facing left, “LIBERTY,” “IN GOD WE TRUST,” the date, and JS under the bust. Reverse: a torch with an olive branch and an oak branch, “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” “E PLURIBUS UNUM,” and “ONE DIME.” The mint mark sits left of the torch when the coin has one. Circulation strikes from 1965 through 1967 have none.

Look at the cheek, the hair, the torch bands, and the date. Those spots go flat first.

Full Torch means the bands on the torch are fully split. That is a strike call. It is not a G / VF / MS-63 number.

Proof Roosevelts exist for part of the run. They were made as proofs, not as circulation strikes that someone shined later.

People Also Ask

What years are Roosevelt dimes?

This page is the clad Roosevelt dime, 1965 through 2024. Silver 1946–1964 lives on the pre-65 Roosevelt dime page. Business strikes NGC left blank are Wikipedia figures. 2025 stays off because that split is not the full year. 2026 is a different dime.

How much is a Roosevelt dime worth?

It depends on the date, the mint mark, the grade, and whether the coin is silver or clad. The G, VF, and MS-63 columns in the mintage chart are NGC guide values from 2026-08-23 for the clad type dates on this page, not an offer. Silver values live on the pre-65 page. A dealer looking at the actual coin will beat a guide number.

Are pre-65 Roosevelt dimes on this page?

No. 1946–1964 are 90% silver. Those years, mintages, and values live on the pre-65 Roosevelt dime page. This page does not duplicate that chart. Same design. Different melt.

Is 1965 a key date?

No. 1965 is the first clad year. The pamphlet prints 1965 dime cells. An alloy change is not a key date. PCGS CoinFacts does not name a traditional key in this series, and this page will not invent one around 1965.

What is Full Torch?

Full Torch is a strike designation on the bands of the torch. It is not a G, VF, or MS-63 cell on this chart. Do not copy a Full Torch price onto the business-strike column.

Collector Considerations

Buy the coin, not the story. A pile of worn clad dimes is face value plus a dealer’s time. A pile of worn pre-65 dimes is often a melt conversation, and that chart lives on the pre-65 Roosevelt dime page.

If you inherited a jar, do not scrub the date to “see it better.” Keep them in the holders they arrived in, or in cheap cardboard flips, and take the box to a person who sees Roosevelt dimes every week. The coin dealer directory starts in Ohio. This site does not invent shop names to fill a paragraph.

Raw coins are fine. So are slabs. What is not fine is a coin that has been cleaned until the fields look like glass, then offered as “original.” Say what happened if you know. A dealer will see it anyway.

If you collect by type, one honest circulated clad Roosevelt will teach you the cheek and the torch on the current alloy. If you collect the silver years, use the other page.

For the dime this design replaced, read the Mercury dime page. For the dime before that, read the Barber dime.

A Final Word

Roosevelt dimes reward people who slow down. Read the date. Read the mint mark left of the torch when there is one. Look at the bands. Leave the polish under the sink. Do not call a 1965 dime silver because the face looks the same.

When you want another series on this site, the pre-65 Roosevelt dime, the Mercury dime, and the Barber dime are already here.