Over 200 bids were received for the most famous modern U.S. coin rarity at GreatCollections. The 1975 No S Proof Dime, released in error without the "S" mint mark, realized $506,250, setting a new all-time auction record, and almost 30 times what the consignor’s family paid for the coin 46 years ago.
The rarity was authenticated by Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) and graded PCGS Proof-67. It has also been approved by Certified Acceptance Corporation (CAC). The 1975 No S Proof Dime is routinely ranked by numismatic professionals and collectors as the #1 modern issue of the United States, including the 100 Greatest U.S. Modern Coins book by Scott Schechter and Jeff Garrett.
In 1978, an Ohio collector and his mother purchased the coin from well-known Chicago dealer F.J. Vollmer & Co, Inc. for $18,200 and held it for almost 50 years before consigning it to GreatCollections two months ago.
"We received interest in this modern rarity from all over the world — serious collectors from Germany, Japan and the U.K., as well as collectors from the U.S. — over 400 unique bidders were actively tracking the auction," said Ian Russell, president of GreatCollections.
"This is the Grail of modern coins, one that is missing from the Smithsonian, ANS and ANA institutional collections. After spirited bidding, it was ultimately won by a long-time client of ours who appreciates rarities that infrequently appear on the market. His goal is for his family to own it for the next 46 years, similar to the seller’s family who consigned it to GreatCollections," continued Russell.
The GreatCollections auction on Oct. 27 included over 4,000 certified coins and banknotes resulting in sales of $3.13 million. Other highlights included a 1955 Doubled Die Lincoln Cent, selections from a Seated Dime variety collection, a serial number one Red Seal National Banknote from Kelso, Washington and an impressive 104-pound Yap Stone.
The U.S. Mint produced 2.84 million proof sets in 1975 with the S mint mark, signifying they were minted at the San Francisco Mint. Only two sets have been discovered containing the dime without the S mint mark. The same person discovered both sets in California, and sold them to Vollmer in 1978 and 1979.
The only other known example has appeared twice in auction, once in 2011 when it realized $349,600 and again in 2019, when it realized $456,000.
GreatCollections auctions in November include more highlights from the Coronado Collection of Red Seal Serial #1 National Banknotes, rare gold coins from the Soaring Eagle Collection, the Norwalk Collection of Half Dollars by Overton varieties and the Fanger Collection of Morgan Dollars in Rattlers (Old Holders).
About GreatCollections
GreatCollections, the official auction house of the American Numismatic Association, specializes in auctioning certified coins and banknotes, handling transactions from start to finish. Since its founding in 2010, GreatCollections has successfully auctioned over 1.5 million certified coins, making it one of the leading certified coin companies in the United States with annual sales in 2023 exceeding $210 million. Ian Russell, owner/president of GreatCollections, is a member of the prestigious Professional Numismatists Guild, member of the National Auctioneers Association and was named the ANA Harry J. Forman Dealer of the Year. For more information about GreatCollections, visit www.greatcollections.com or call 800-442-6467.
This is an instance of USM misfeasance that would be kool to get. Time to review my ‘75 sets….
Hmmm. I can’t shake the implication that a mistake can on occasion be advantageous.
Interesting and perplexing somewhat to me, the way this coin appears? This looks like a matte proof vs mirror proof coin. Definitely not a cameo or deep cameo type look. Some of the rest of the coins from this particular set do have that cameo/mirror type look though. In the GC listing you can see more of a typical frosted device contrast between what appears to be significantly more mirrored field and frosted devices on the Kennedy half and Eisenhower dollar IMO. Makes me wonder if there is any by chance, a couple P(no mint mark) dimes were possibly slipped… Read more »
Wow, Cali! That’s one fugly dime for being a “proof”. In my eye there’s nothing prooflike about it. The fields are awful – certainly not prooflike. This wouldn’t be the first time there was shenanigans at a mint facility. How in the world could a dime be struck at the SF mint without a mintmark. I’ve heard the accidental wrong die theory, but that would have had to be the very first strike of a batch and you’d think QC requirements would lead to inspection before striking an entire batch. And then, there’d be a TON more. Or if it… Read more »
DaveSWFL and CaliSkier. After everything I had heard about this being the Greatest Modern American Coin I must admit I was a bit disappointed to see what it actually looked like. It doesn’t seem to look all that much like a Proof and it also appears to exhibit multiple scratches and some evidence of discoloration. Was this coin possibly handled a bit after being cracked out of the Proof Set? I would have thought the owners would have paid great attention to keep both examples of this coin as shiny and pristine as possible after what they paid for them… Read more »
Cannot question PCGS. If they and CAC certify it’s a PR67 coin, then it definitely is. The rest of us see it otherwise though. I’m curious if the Eisenhower Dollar in the set was a type one or a type two.
Antonio, Remember when Rick displayed on this site his PCGS “certified” 2014-D (allegedly clad but instead actually silver) JFK Half Dollar? As a clad coin from the 50th Anniversary Uncirculated Set it was thought of as being quite valuable i.e. expensive due to its unique scarcity but after it was revealed to be a many, many times more common silver coin from that same year its commercial value dropped precipitously. Therefore, when I now see PCGS as the party responsible for guaranteeing the status of a coin I prefer to reserve my judgment as to whether that verdict can in… Read more »
.
So there’s no question, the credit for the above photo goes to Rick.
Cali the $.10 1975 no S proof is surely lacking cameo but probably close enough to still be considered a proof given the smooth fields under all of the distractions? The majority of the coin composition is copper that looks to be oxidizing and causing the orange spotting/toning. Bad planchet altogether… The reverse sure is bad like everyone says, like it’s die was set to get trashed? Hence the likely shenanigans as someone played around with the P-mint die on that one. PCGS openly calls it a P-minted, no-S coin lol. CAC made an exception as far as looking at… Read more »
PCGS can’t make mistakes? LOL…
Both slabbed coins in the photo below are certified to be a genuine 2014-D “clad” coin from the 50th anniversary UNC Set–yeah right!? That reeded edge says it all….
You already know the story about these two coins, but there is a twist.
Funny thing is, there are more out there that are certified as clad, but are silver…..
Below is another misidentified, yet certified SP69 2014-D “clad” from the Unc Set–and yeah it’s a silver coin(from the silver 4 coin set)….. PCGS has some splainin to do..
So, with just 11 days until the scheduled release of the West Point produced 2024 Flowing Hair 1oz $1 Gold Coin, the US Mint still hasn’t populated the product page with any pictures? This tells me, that there is a good chance the product will be delayed, due to manufacturing/striking problems. If they are released and I were purchasing, I’d be definitively inspecting my purchase with a fine toothed comb! If I had to guess, they are having problems with finning or metal flow, with the dies produced? Perhaps the digital reproduction, in conjunction with the High Relief, is just… Read more »
CaliSkier,
Is this upcoming FHG auction a new tack for the Mint or have events like this involving brand new products taken place in the past? I’m just wondering why rather than just selling this coin on Release Day the Mint seems to be anticipating some kind of advantage to auctioning off a batch of these same coins separately.
Kaiser Wilhelm, not so long ago, the US Mint in 2022 held an auction, hosted by Stack’s Bowers. The auction was, “billed as the 35th Anniversary American Eagle at Dusk and at Dawn coins — were struck April 13, 2021, at the West Point Mint by the 39th U.S. Mint director, David J. Ryder.” So there is precedence for this type of event to occur. The US Mint, rightfully so as you say, definitively “seems to be anticipating some kind of advantage to auctioning off a batch of these same coins separately.” They know they will make more money off… Read more »
CaliSkier, Thank you so very much for expending all the time and effort to write three such extremely informative comments in a row which both separately and together manage to provide such an impressively comprehensive elucidation of the Mint’s own history with auctions and then from that past evidence draw inferences as to how the present day FH Gold Coin scenario may well play out. I didn’t think so before but now I’m not so sure that there won’t be some surprises, perhaps even big ones, involved with this somewhat unexpected auction, especially since this is basically the Mint’s grand… Read more »
I am not bidding maybe if I catch one but the FH is just today’s it …IT coin
IT’s what some people want. LOL. 😀
Antonio and John Q. Coinage,
Well, friends, this is certainly unprecedented. For the first time ever we have to split today’s Most Humorous Comment Of The Day Award between two winners. Congratulations!
Cali, most interesting, but will it play out clean in the end. USM credibility is low enuf already. Odd none depicted so close to FDOI. For $1,000 over spot should be gleaming. I just spent a lot on a 1892cc $20, but only $1,000 more than 5he FH will go. Fins up…. Oh tips up Cali
John Q. Coinage,
Forgive my difficulty at following the drift of this seemingly cryptic lingo, but I remain lost in translation regarding the implication of “Fins up…Oh tips up”. Help?
Kaiser, of course one of the most notable auctions of US Minted coins, was for the notoriously famous, Carson City Morgan Silver Dollars. My Coin Guides writes in their entry titled: “GSA Morgan Dollars”: “A series of five mail bid sales were conducted between October 31, 1972 and June 30, 1974.” Also, “After all of the auctions were completed, the sale of the nearly 3 million Morgan Dollars had realized more than $94 million in sales.” Link below to the My Coin Guides write up. https://morgandollars.net/gsa-morgan-dollars/ Now, if you want the “Major” story on how poorly handled, some of the… Read more »
CaliSkier, As we delve deeper and further into the subject of Mint auctions it seems to me that it become somewhat obvious that not all such ventures succeed at the highest level, at least not for everyone. Or, perhaps a better way to put that would be that while some buyers come away from these auctions even more than satisfied by what has transpired in the way of sales and purchases others are in effect simply left high and dry holding the (empty) bag, so to speak, and the left-outs likely find it extremely hard to believe and/or accept how… Read more »
Of course Kaiser, the most famous auction of all, can be read about on the US Mints website: “Auction Of Rare 1933 Double Eagle Gold Coin Nets $3 Million–Plus For U.S. Government” https://www.usmint.gov/news/press-releases/20020802-auction-of-rare-1933-double-eagle-gold-coin-nets-3-millionplus-for-u-s-government# Then in 2021, Steve Roach for Coin World wrote a piece, about this same coin, titled: “1933 double eagle tops $18.8 million for new record”. Search for that title to read about the record amount, then paid, for this historical coin, once tied to Egypts King Farouk! The Coin World article covers the history of this famous and only legal to own example, of a 1933 Gold… Read more »
CaliSkier,
Unless there are still other 1933 Double Eagle Gold Coins out there where they will likely never be found, it doesn’t appear to matter that the one which was sold at auction is the only one that can be owned legally since it’s the only one that can be owned under any conditions simply because its existence represents a total coin population of one. Regardless of such little niceties, that is a fantastic story, one I could imagine would be worthy of a Sherlock Holmes tale if he had indeed been a seeker of lost coins.
Kaiser said: “since it’s the only one that can be owned under any conditions simply because its existence represents a total coin population of one.” Not necessarily the whole story, per se Kaiser? Many numismatists do indeed believe there are other 1933 Double Eagles, lurking in the shadows, hidden away, to never be spoken of or viewed by any, other than by those in possession of such a controversial coin. There are apparently 13 “known” examples and others(9) had been previously in possession at some point, 75 years ago. Many, indeed believe or have speculated there are indeed, possibly “others”,… Read more »
CaliSkier,
It’s been years since I first came across the story of those particular 1933 Double Eagles and the details are still just as infuriating, if not even more so, now as they were when I first became aware of this experience. There is indeed a very valuable lesson to be learned here, which is simply that the phrase “trustworthy government” is an oxymoron.
I couldn’t help myself, due to this above 1975 No S Proof Roosevelt Dime. One of the linked or “Related Articles” I mention above, provides further relevance to possibilities of other 1933 Double Eagles, possibly in existence? By Kenneth Goldman, for Coin World. “1933 double eagle sighting garners call from FBI: Guest Commentary”
https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/1933-double-eagle-sighting-leads-to-eventual-call-from-fbi-offic.html
I do find it fascinating all the “error” coins in existence and how they trade hands without any attention given, by the Secret Service. A notable case being the unauthorized, 1913 Liberty Head Nickels. Just saying…
FBI can’t find terrorists but they have the time to look for 1933 gold eagles. Pathetic.
They have time to hunt down a squirrel, trash the mans house searching for a squirrel, literally destroying his home looking for the squirrel!! You’d have thot he was a Serial Murder!! Then they murdered the pet squirrel!! What has this Country become!!! 🙁
You’re right AKBob.., this new USM website sucks more than anything has ever sucked before….
At 6:25pm EST there was a wait list to enter the website…. Why was I entered into the waiting room, on a Monday, at 6:25 ?
Come the 14th, this website upgrade is going to $h!+ itself.., just watch and see..
Oh, and regarding the squirrel, poor little fella.., the answer you seek is, “it takes a squirrel to know a squirrel” 😉
Poor Peanut the Squirrel… “Nuts!”
Rich,
Wasn’t that the answer given to the Germans at Bastogne when they demanded the American surrender during the Battle of the Bulge?
Yes, Sir Kaiser; Surrender? “Nuts!” – Gen. Anthony McAuliffe’s 1944 Christmas Message to his Troops.
“To the German Commander:
Nuts!
The American Commander”
AKBob,
All I can say in reference to this unfortunate incident that would be merely ludicrous if it wasn’t so totally pathetic is that every government feels the need to justify its existence and to do so it invariably chooses the easiest and least risky route and means, and here’s the perfect evidence of that. Squirrels beware!
East Coast Guru,
2,997 innocent people fell victim to 19 terrorists who trained in the US without anybody paying them any attention, neither the FBI nor the Secret Service.
10 coins just sitting in a private vault of a family of law-abiding US citizens, yet the full force of the FBI and Secret Service are brought to bear on them.
You tell me…does this in any way seem right and proper, legal or logical?
While this is the way Izzy’s store looked when it was closed for the night, it seems to be symbolic of what the government did to him and his family.
I have 1 1975 dime with no S above 1975. How much is it worth? the other person received 506,250.00
I have 1 1975 dime with no S above 1975. what is it worth? A few days ago it was paid to a person for 506,250.00. Thank You for your response.
FHS non-privy returns should be showing up any day now…, perhaps tomorrow the FHS will become available again?
Keep Calm & Stack On,
That will likely be the case unless there are still enough P.T.Barnum adherents out there to continue taking up the slack. We shall see.
FHG – was it always listed as high relief?
As in 230th Anniversary Flowing Hair HIGH RELIEF Gold Coin?
Or am I just now waking up to the fact?
Yes from the very get-go it was proclaimed as being a high relief proof coin! FHG was/is pretty much in line with the Gold Liberty Series as far as that goes…
However, High Relief was not included in the title all year like it is now…
It was mentioned in the description on the old website…
Thank ya.., thought I was loosing my mind, Yeah, this puppy has more in common with the Liberty Series than not…. Sans the edge lettering,
Perhaps that’s why no photo for us yet, problems with the die strike on a 1) gold proof coin, 2) with high relief, & 3) edge lettering….
Don’t recall the USM ever striking 1 thru 3 before…. In gold?
Not sure why they don’t put up a FHG image since they’re AI, morphed renderings from the branding Dept.. Not real photos, like the 2023 Lib below(all USM shopping images)… FOMO I think and hopefully not production issues!?
The 1907 Extra HR Gold Proof coin had some edge lettering on it…
Here’s another example of an image rendering from the USM store below…
And a photo of a coin I took with my phone..
Big difference visually between an AI morph, and the real thing….
Rick,
Thanks for posting those examples. I wasn’t at all up to speed on the difference between the AI produced and actual photographic images before; now I have a much better idea of what to look for.