This dime isn't a dime a dozen

This particular dime was sold at auction today (Jan 7, 2016).  The buyer paid the sum of $1.99 million for the extremely rare dime, including the auction fee.  So why is this such a rare dime?  It has an interesting story.

There are several theories about how only 24 of these dimes were minted at the San Francisco that year.  The most generally accepted theory is that there was a bullion account that needed to be balanced and the minting of these dimes made the account balance.  Legend has it that the Mint's employees were not trying to deliberately create an extreme rarity, as they expected to be ordered to mint many more 1894 dimes.  But no further production was ordered.  Today, only nine of the 24 are known to exist.

When I was a kid and collecting coins was my primary hobby, I would buy folders like this to store my coins.

This dime folder was for the Mercury Dimes, which were minted from 1916 through 1945.  The design of the dime was changed in 1946 to honor the late President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  The Barber coinage, dimes, quarters and half-dollars were minted from 1892 through 1916.  All of the coins had the same design.  One of the things I remember about these folders is that the round slots to insert the coins were all a near perfect fit.  But some of them had cardboard plugs that indicated that particular coin was very rare.  The folder for Lincoln pennies had one of those plugs for the 1909-S VDB coin.  The folder for Indian head pennies had plugs for the 1856 Flying Eagle Cent and the 1873 Indian head.  Those coins were and are nowhere nearly as rate as an 1894-S Barber Dime.

What makes it even more interesting is that most of the extreme rarities among U. S. coins weren't intended for regular circulation or mint customers.  The coin collecting community loves to buy what are known as "proof" coins directly from the Mint.  The extremely rare 1804 dollars weren't actually minted until the 1830s and then only to be used in special proof sets to be handed out as diplomatic gifts.  The proof set given in 1836 to the King of Siam sold for more than $8 million back in 2005.

There are five Liberty Head nickels that are dated 1913.  The Mint was not authorized to make these coins.  All five of them were first owned by one person.  But they aren't "regular issue" coins.  That doesn't stop collectors from wanting to own them.  One of the five specimens known to exist sold for $5 million in 2007.

What's the point of all of this?  That there are rare coins that can be found circulating today.  The 1914-D penny can be found in change and it is worth well over $100. A 1950-D nickel in near perfect condition can be worth up to $100.  Any dime, quarter or half-dollar dated 1964 or earlier is worth roughly 10 times its face value just for the silver it contains.

And if you're really lucky you might find a 1943 copper penny in your change.  Because all but about two dozen of the millions of pennies minted that year were made of steel, due to shortages of copper during WWII, that copper penny could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Be vigilant!