I found this dime in my change... I don’t know if it’s silver but I think it is... Yes... I know they stopped making silver dimes in 1964
Nope, 1974 dimes aren't silver, they are Copper-nickel clad https://www.ngccoin.com/coin-explorer/roosevelt-dimes-1946-date-pscid-32/1974-10c-ms-coinid-15145
I have one from 1974 that is silver also, no copper showing on the edge either, it was plated. Scraping at the reeded edge between the reeds with a razor blade will scratch off the plating, IF you can't see copper on the edge already. it's the least conspicuous spot to tamper with it to see if it was previously plated when you can't tell otherwise. really difficult to tell the dime but the year is wrong for it to be silver, so that puts it at, funky toning in which case the copper on the edge will be visible, it was plated, or the real long shot, an off metal dime struck on a wrong planchet, but as I said, that's a really long shot. 99.99% of the time its plated. and the weight won't tell you, tissue test won't work if its' plated, it will sound different if dropped if it's plated, ect. scraping between the reeds on the edge to see if you can uncover copper is the way to either confirm or rule it out, without very expensive metals testing. And I'll repeat, I have a silver plated 1974P dime, someone out there was doing it that year.
@DarkRage666 Buy a copy of this book. Nearly every experienced collector of US coins had one when they started. Filed with lots and lots of basic info. It will be the best $10-15 you'll ever spend on the hobby. BTW: I like your new avatar. It goes very well with your user name
Silver clad was only used on 40% silver halves (1965-70) and some Ike dollars sold by the mint. There may have been some Bicentennial Halves and quarters that are 40% clad, but I'm not positive. No dimes were done in silver clad. BTW: All of this info is in your redbook. I don't have access to one at the moment, but if I did, I would be using to quickly confirm that the info I gave you in the previous paragraph is correct. It's a great reference. When I first started collecting as a kid, I would always be paging through it and learning stuff. I use it a lot more as a quick reference for weights, mintages, etc, than I use it as a price guide.
You've already learned that silver has a characteristic look. If someone scattered a bunch of worn clad dimes with a few silver dimes mixed in, you could probably pick out the silver at a glance. But color isn't a 100% guarantee, as you're learning here. I've seen plenty of clad coins that looked like silver, and more than a few silver coins that looked like clad. Depending on the conditions they're exposed to, both silver and clad coins can take on all kinds of coloring. Sometimes it's quite misleading.
So today I learned that dimes struck on quarter stock are known. I suppose it would have been possible for 1975 or 1976 dimes to be struck on dime planchets punched from 40% silver quarter stock. Given the special handling for the 40% silver bicentennial coinage, I doubt that any were -- but it's an interesting possibility. Edit, based on a new question and reply in the old thread: Fred Weinberg doesn't know of any examples, which makes it seem even more likely that there are none.
