While rolling coins from all the random change collected, I noticed an odd dime. Very shiny. Doesn't look like a typical dime in the respect that it is extremely silver looking. Awesome shape. No visible nicks and the edges are not worn down. I read it may be worth money (more than the 10 cents). How would I go about checking this and what is the possible worth?
Upon looking at the dime through the camera, I realized it's a 1963. Not sure if this is better or worse. But, either way, this is not a typical dime. It is shiny silver. Here are some pics.
It's very whitish/silver because it's 90% silver. At current silver prices (about $28.50/oz), that makes the dime worth $2.06 in silver (bullion) content. So, an excellent find! Dimes, quarters and haves were 90% silver up to and including 1964. After that, halves were 40% silver until 1970, and the other denoms went to clad composition in 1965.
It's not a 1969 it's a 1963 and that's why it's silver looking, because it contains .07234 ounces of pure silver. The last year of the 90% silver coinage ended in 1964, with silver coins produced that year as being the last of the 90% silvers. In 1965, only the Kennedy have dollar contained silver, and it was reduced from 90% to 40% clad. This ended in 1970. Your dime has a lot of wear and circulation hits to it, and has a silver value of $2.02.
Dimes (as well as quarters and halves) minted before 1965 are 90% silver. That explains why your dime is "extremely silver looking". At the current value of silver ($27.87/oz) your dime is worth a little over $2 due to its silver content. Nice find. Also notice the edge of the dime is the same color as the obverse and reverse. That is because the dime is 90% silver throughout. Modern clad coins (1965 and later) are made of a layer of pure copper sandwiched between two layers of copper-nickel (75% copper/25% nickel). You can see the different layers on most clad coins.
