Description

The dime is a ten cent coin, one tenth of a United States dollar, labeled formally as "one dime". The denomination was first authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792. The dime is the smallest in diameter and is the thinnest of all U.S. coins currently minted for circulation. The word "dime" comes from the French word "dîme", meaning "tithe" or "tenth part", from the Latin decima.

Soon after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, legislation was introduced by Virginia Congressman Ralph H. Daughton that called for the replacement of the Mercury dime with one bearing Roosevelt's image. The dime was chosen to honor Roosevelt partly due to his efforts in the founding of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (later renamed the March of Dimes), which originally raised money for polio research and to aid victims of the disease and their families. The public had been urged to send in a dime to the Foundation, and by Roosevelt's death, the Foundation was already popularly known as the "March of Dimes."

Due to the limited amount of time available to design the new coin, the Roosevelt dime was the first regular-issue U.S. coin designed by a US Mint employee in more than 40 years. Chief Engraver John R. Sinnock was chosen. The dime was released to the public on January 30, 1946, which would have been Roosevelt's 64th birthday. Sinnock's design placed his initials ("JS") at the base of Roosevelt's neck, on the coin's obverse. This later led to the rumor that "JS" were the initials of the Communist leader of Russia, Joseph Stalin, placed there by a Soviet agent in the mint. The Mint quickly issued a statement denying this, confirming that the initials were indeed Sinnock's.

In 1965 the composition of the dime changed from 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper to a clad "sandwich" of pure copper inner layer between two outer layers of cupronickel (75% copper, 25% nickel) alloy.

Roosevelt Silver Dimes were produced at three different mints: Philadelphia (no mint mark), Denver (D) and San Francisco (S). The mint mark is located on the reverse of the coin, near the bottom just above the "E" in ONE and to the left of the base of the torch.

Major varieties include a 1960 Doubled Die Obverse, a 1963 Doubled Die Reverse, and a 1964-D Doubled Die Reverse.

Alone among currently circulating U.S. coins, the Roosevelt dime's basic design has remained unchanged since its introduction in 1946.