The future of the Roosevelt dime series?

Blasphemer! (Kidding of course) As detailed by my avatar, I do love dimes and Roosevelt's are no different. Yes, I agree, the whole "dead president" obverse is old and outdated. Still, I think there are few who know the symbolism of the reverse or how it came to be. I find this a stark difference to today's coinage where you know exactly what is being portrayed on every quarter, ASE, cent, etc.

Secondly, I am finding I am a little like you. I collect modern coins and believe there is a challenge in certain decades for certain series and the Roosevelt dime is no exception. Still, I like my classic coinage as well.

 

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IMHO the Roosevelt design should be dropped completely. So should the JFK half dollar. Both have been around too long.

 

'Easy Ryder'...........glad that devil is gone.

 

The September issue of Coins magazine will include my article on "Collecting Roosevelt Dimes." No predictions are made about the termination of the series.

 

As always, I'm looking forward to reading it!

 

Though I like the idea I fear the mint will release politically motivated designs or just plane dumb ones.

 

There's a difference?

 

Yeah your right they can be both, but I have seen plenty of just plane dumb designs that are not politically motivated. I've stopped collecting modern mint releases, I'm tired of the mint yeah I'm in a bad mood too.

 

I want to see a TASTEFUL rendition of Lady Liberty on the dime and all the rest of our coins. No more dead Presidents.

 

As long as there's a "March of Dimes" and a United States of America, FDR is going to be on the dime. Just the way that's gonna go in perpetuity.

 

Yes, FDR was god to some when he was alive, and has become a saint since he has passed on.

 

Sorry, need to step in here - it is 'just PLAIN dumb ones'. Normally Roosevelt dimes do not fly out of your local airport...

 

In 2046 the 100th anniversary of the FDR dime I will be 70.

 

Forgive my ignorance, but why is that?

And why is that?

 

The number of nice collectible specimens is rapidly dropping to a point where collectors will be able to just scoop them all up. Due to high attrition and degradation of circulating coinage most 1969 dimes are in abysmal condition. They are heavily scratched by coin handling equipment and are heavily worn from so many years in circulation. Add in the fact that nice examples have been selectively removed by collectors since 1999 and the vast majority of the few '69 dimes remaining are unattractive. People don't realize that these coins were only designed to circulate for 30 years and the oldest clads are fast approaching double that.

There are only some 30,000,000 of these existing but try finding one among the 80,000,000,000 circulating dimes. Then remember that to find a nice F example for your collection will require you find about 12 of them! You can still do it today but in ten years we'll see rolls of avg circ '69 dimes on eBay and none in circulation. These rolls will look worse than barber dimes in most ways because they aren't merely worn but they are scratched and were poorly made.

Long answer short. Current trends will have them gone in less than 10 years.


A lot of the problem with clads is the metal wears like iron. Silver coins abraded away and scratches were worn off as fast as they accumulated. But clad wears very slowly so most coins are actually lost before they wear down to Fine. Those which beat the odds simply accumulate scratches as they age.

Concurrently there's something else going on and my research hasn't turned up the answer. Apparently the coins are getting mangled in counting operations and have been for years now. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out where because almost every coin coming out of the facility will be scratched. It is getting rather difficult to find unscratched clads in circulation.


Attrition is relentless and once a coin is lost it's lost forever and a new coin is made to replace it. People won't even stoop to pick up a dime any longer so they get into the garbage stream and then incinerated with the municipal trash. Truckloads of burnt coins are delivered to the FED for destruction and recoining. Millions of coins are recycled with the automobiles in which they were lost every year.

Old clads are simply coming to an end and it's happening in a world where BU rolls never were set aside and mint sets have suffered nearly as high attrition as coins in circulation. Couple all this with the fact most 1969 dimes in mint sets are now tarnished and one wonders where a collector will be able to find a pristine 1969 dime in 10 years in ANY condition. Circ rolls will not be answer.

 

Very interesting analysis!

I believe everything you say, but... I'm still frustrated that the ASE I've been carrying for something like EIGHT YEARS as a pocket piece still has obvious evidence of the harsh cleaning it had when I got it, and still hasn't taken on the dull coloration I'm used to on circulated silver. How can I learn more about how coins wear when my experiment doesn't produce any results?

 

Wear is an accumulation of small collisions and abrasions. Just bouncing around in a pocket might not get much wear if most of the collisions are with the fibers of the pockets. It needs to bounce against metal car keys and other coins. It's also a function of things like how active the pocket wearer is and even how he walks. A gliding stride won't cause things to jingle much but using a pogo stick will.

One of the reasons that old silver coins wore so well and quickly was that the coins had real purchasing power so most workmen carried them and most workmen had highly physical jobs. Ten men used to spend the day digging a ditch and wearing down lots of coins. Now a machine does all the work and eleven men watch and a twelfth operates it. Coins don't wear much any longer but they get scratched up and lost.

I'd try carrying my car keys and a few half dollars in the same pocket.

I once had a very physically demanding job. I could start the day with a few coins from mint sets and by the end of the day they'd all be AU. If I didn't spend them first within a week or two they'd be XF. It was always nice even wear.

Keep in mind as well that depending on the type of cleaning you're wearing away that it might require as much as a two grade loss to eradicate it. A polished XF might need to be worn down to low end Fine before the polishing next to all the devices has been worn away.

 

I've worn a lot of clean off a lot of coin and sometimes it just doesn't want to wear away. Usually cleanings are much easier to wear off.

 

Well, here's my standard pocket inventory (excluding two small metal keys on a pair of rings, and a plastic car-remote fob):




These images don't show it, but that ASE is still mirror-like in the fields. The Sac, dime, and Kennedy were pretty much this worn when I got them. The proof quarter still has a mirrorlike texture. I've been carrying most of these for well over five years, and probably 7-8 years for the ASE.

I don't do a lot of walking or bouncing around on foot. I guess I should put these into a bag mounted on the bike; that should agitate things pretty well.

 

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