I don't have another 1994 dime. Can't compare the two. But have other dimes. That is a totally different color.
Yours is most likely environmentally damaged. It has been said that: Well, for one, environmentally damaged coins don't have much - if any - Mint luster Here is J Cro's improperly annealed dime, you can see the difference.
Would the rim on her dime also be a giveaway that it's environmental damage, as the rim is normal colored. Which if there was an annealing problem would it be coin-wide not just "most of it" ?? Plus the other items you mentioned.
Fred Weinberg mentioned the rim as a key marker to see if something is improperly annealed, or ED. (AND OF COURSE I FORGOT EXACTLY WHAT HE SAID TO LOOK FOR.) It's in a thread here somewhere. But the luster or lack of luster is also a marker.
searched .. thread: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/20...sland-improper-annealing.307775/#post-2941734 post: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/20...sland-improper-annealing.307775/#post-2941734 copied text: I could immediately tell it was a genuine mis-annealed planchet because: Every single 'mis-annealed' coin that someone has shown me at a coin show, or in an email, that turns out to be environmentally damaged or played with, has a darker duller surface than it should have, AND every single non-error has the same dark color on the reeded EDGE of the coin. See the edge photo (#3) - it looks like a normal BU Quarter - the copper core shows a nice normal red color - that's because although the planchet itself (on a genuine mis-annealed planchet) would have the dark color on the smooth edge, once it's struck in the collar, and ejected, that dark color is removed from the reeding due to the ejection of the now-coin from the collar. (I could also tell it's real from the surfaces themselves, - although mis-annealing leaves a range of 'darknesss', seeing the reeding as a normal red copper color is one of the keys to know it hasn't been played with) Hope this helps - it's a good authentication point to check, if you're not sure of a 'darker' color coin is truly mis-annealed/improperly annealed, or has been played with after the coin was in circulation.
