1975 No-S Proof Dimes - only 2 known!

Zoins

I was recently looking into the 1975 No-S Proof Dimes recently and thought the discovery stories are interesting.

Ron's version indicates the coins were discovered at different times while the MonsterCoinMart version from Justin and @wondercoin indicates they were found at the same time.

Ron Guth @BestGerman wrote for CoinFacts:

Only two examples of the 1975-S No S Dime are known. The first coin was discovered in a 1975-S Proof Set in 1977. The second example was found seven years later. The discovery coin was sold in 1979 to Proof coin specialist, Fred Vollmer, who sold it the next years later to a collector. Neither coin had ever appeared at auction until the discovery coin was included in the 2011 ANA sale offerings by Stack's-Bowers.

Ref: https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1975-10c-no-s/5254/68

Justin wrote:

In 1975, these two sets were purchased by a lucky California collector who ordered five sets from the Mint. She noticed that two the Roosevelt Dimes in her sets lacked the “S” Mint Mark and eventually had the two coins certified by ANACS. Both of these proof sets were eventually sold to coin dealer Fred Vollmer, a specialist in No S proof coins. Vollmer eventually sold one of these sets to a collector from Ohio for $18,200, who later had the dime certified as PR66 by PCGS. It is believed that the coin still resides with this collector to this day.

The second set, containing the coin purchased here, was later sold by Vollmer to a private collector for $38,550 in 1980. From there it was passed to a dealer who consigned it to Stack’s Bowers in 2011, where it sold for a record $349,600. Up until the sale on September 6th, 2019, this PCGS-PR68 example has remained in the collection of the 2011 winning bidder. The 1975 proof No S Roosevelt Dime is the rarest of all "S"-Less modern coins -- behind only the unique 1976 proof No S Eisenhower Dollar.

Ref: http://www.monstercoinmart.com/News(01)_Sale of Finest Known 1975 No S Dime.html

Here are the two coins:

1975 No-S Proof Dime - PCGS PR66 POP 0/1/1 - Vollmer Specimen - Ex. Fred Vollmer

https://www.pcgs.com/cert/32803312

• Sold by Fred Vollmer for $18,200.

1975 No-S Proof Dime - PCGS PR68 POP 1/1/0 - Halcyon Specimen - Ex. Fred Vollmer, Halcyon Collection, Mitch Spivack / @wondercoin, Justin Spivack, Steven Heller, Nick Cascio, Liquidity Registry Set

• Cert: https://www.pcgs.com/cert/20519253
• Sale: https://coins.ha.com/itm/roosevelt-dimes/dimes/1975-10c-no-s-pr68-pcgs-pcgs-5254-/a/1299-4715.s?ic4=OtherResults-SampleItem-071515&tab=ArchiveSearchResults-012417
• Sale: http://www.monstercoinmart.com/News(01)_Sale of Finest Known 1975 No S Dime.html

Provenance:

• Private California collector
• Sold by Fred Vollmer for $38,550 in 1980.
• Unknown intermediaries
• Ken Goldman
• Sold by Stack's Bowers for $349,600 in 8/2011 (Rarities Night Auction).
• Halcyon Collection
• Sold by Heritage for $456,000.00 on Sept 8, 2019 to Mitch Spivack, Justin Spivack and Steven Heller
• Sold by Mitch Spivack, Justin Spivack and Steven Heller for $516,000 in 2019.

Of note:

Steve, Nick, the buyer here and Mitch have all been #1 in the Roosie Dime Registry at one time or another (Mitch, first to achieve that in 1999).

CaptHenway

Bill Gibbs, who was working with me when the first one of these came in to Coin World, has written the definitive history of these in the CU Forums.

Zoins

@CaptHenway said:
Bill Gibbs, who was working with me when the first one of these came in to Coin World, has written the definitive history of these in the CU Forums.

Here’s an article from Bill Gibbs. Looks like both coins were certified by ANACS and both are now certified by PCGS.

https://www.coinworld.com/videos/monday-morning-brief-mar-13-2017.html

Here’s an article from Heritage:

https://coinweek.com/auctions-news/heritage-auctions-seldom-seen-selections-proof-1975-no-s-dime-only-two-known/

CaptHenway

I am pretty sure that Bill wrote something here. Watching the Stanley Cup playoffs or would look for it.

yosclimber

The Heritage article linked by @Zoins quotes a September 1, 2011 CoinWorld article by Bill Gibbs.

Bill Gibbs made short posts to 2 threads on this subject:
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/3495072#Comment_3495072 (2004)
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/5990504#Comment_5990504 (2006)

$516k is a lotta cash for modern die variety.
It's easy to see and extremely rare, though.
And it only takes 2 to make a bidding war.

Zoins

@yosclimber said:
The Heritage article linked by @Zoins quotes a September 1, 2011 CoinWorld article by Bill Gibbs.

Bill Gibbs made short posts to 2 threads on this subject:
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/3495072#Comment_3495072 (2004)
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/5990504#Comment_5990504 (2006)

Great finds!

Given that the thread titles are similar, it's great we have TrueViews now:

• Have You Ever Actually Seen A 1975 No S Proof Dime?
• Has anyone ever seen a 1975-S No "S" Proof Dime?

$516k is a lotta cash for modern die variety.
It's easy to see and extremely rare, though.
And it only takes 2 to make a bidding war.

The $516k wasn't an auction but it's close.

The Heritage auction price was $456,000. It was then flipped for $516,000.

ChrisH821

I find it interesting that neither example is designated cameo. By 1975 wasn't every proof basically DCAM? This is especially so considering only two are known after all this time, one would think they were the very first(only) two struck by that set of dies and should have excellent cameo contrast.
Was a Philly die mistakenly sent to SF, polished up for proof production, then immediately removed from service after striking just two coins?