Three sisters from Ohio who inherited a dime kept in a bank vault for more than 40 years knew it had some value. But they had no idea just how much until just a few years ago.
The extraordinarily rare coin, struck by the U.S. Mint in San Francisco in 1975, could bring more than $500,000, said Ian Russell, president of GreatCollections, which specializes in currency and is handling an online auction that will end in October.
What makes the dime depicting President Franklin D. Roosevelt so valuable is a missing "S" mint mark for San Francisco, one of just two without the mark known to exist. The other one sold at a 2019 auction for $456,000 and then again months later to a private collector.
While serious coin collectors have long known about the existence of these two rare dimes, their whereabouts had remained a mystery since the late 1970s.
"They were hidden for decades." Russell said. "Most major collectors and dealers have never seen one."
