Very Good Coin Week Article
cladking
Posts: 28,701 ✭✭✭✭✭
https://coinweek.com/coins/coin-profiles/modern-coin-profiles/united-states-1972-p-roosevelt-dime/
There are a couple little errors in the article but they did their homework on this one. It is very well written.
There is a knee jerk reaction to say there are thousands more of every modern waiting to be found but this is generally untrue. It is more true in this specific case that more '72 FB will be found since I believe nearly .01% seem to be FB. How many of these will be found among the surviving '72 mint sets remains to be seen because it's a race between attrition/ tarnish and collectors.
The '72 dime was issued at the time the mint and Fed were switching to FIFO accounting so the majority of the date went almost straight into circulation. Nobody was saving rolls or paying much attention to these so it is a "better date" despite its high mintage. Most coins made for circulation were poorly made but a few were nice. Nice XF examples of this date was one of the first to disappear from circulation back in the late-'80's.
Mint set coins run the gamut from full chGem to mushy marked up garbage with lots of nicer strikes and well preserved coins. Probably 40% were what I call "gemmy" (ch64 or better). The '72 mint set is the least tarnished of the early dates so finding nice specimens is still fairly easy. These sets have come into quite a premium in the last year but they can still be found for less than three times face making a nice chBU '72 only about 75c. This assumes you have to buy multiple sets to be sure of getting a nice one. For this price you can usually buy one retail and not have a bunch of other coins you might not want.
Comments
Enjoyed the read. Several of the early clad are extremely tough in FT/FB, in addition to this issue. Too bad there are not more collectors of the series though.
I think it's a young person's series. It's for someone with sharp eyes and time to put together sets. As the article states it's ideal for people who don't have a lot of money. What other series can you put together a really nice collection that is the envy of specialists for only a couple hundred dollars? And is 58 different dates?
Nobody even realizes how tough these coins are because there's no demand to show that nice '72 dimes are pretty tough. There's no demand so no wholesale market. Retailers find their own choice and Gem coins in mint sets and don't need wholesalers. If demand ever materializes the few remaining mint sets will dry up almost overnight and a wholesale market will have to materialize.
In the meantime it's still possible to find FB Gems with diligence and access to set (or rolls). They aren't worth much now but this goes back to the lack of demand. Coincidentally I just checked 250 '72 dimes for FB with no luck.
Clad dimes are probably even more overlooked and undervalued than clad quarters if that's even possible. People familiar with moderns know that there are five times as many BU clad dime rolls than quarters but this total is still insignificant and some dates weren't saved. Being such small coins makes them easier to overlook. Busted mint set dimes are nearly as likely to be spent as the quarters.