Irradiated Dimes - What are they and are they collectible? Photos Updated!

Cameonut

3/24 Edited to improve photos.

I have been collecting irradiated dimes and associated memorabilia for a number of years now. I rarely see any mention of them on these boards so I thought I would put together some info and photos.

Before I go any further, please post your irradiated dimes and associated items! I've posted a few to get started. I’m especially interested in personal experiences with this program.

First of all, for those that might think these are dangerous, please refer to the documentation. These coins were bombarded with neutrons over 40 years ago. They don’t glow in the dark – and never did. The half-lives of the silver isotopes are relatively short so the radiation diminishes quickly. When “fresh” they gave off about the same amount of radiation as the luminous hands of a watch. (Also see the Jan 2012 NBS reference at the end where some were tested with a Geiger counter).

I believe that most of you have seen these at shows or on Ebay but didn’t know much about them. It all started back in ~1949 when the dimes were irradiated as a promotion. The technology was a byproduct of the Manhattan Project which had ultimately ended WWII. This promotion was a way to show that radiation could be handled in a safe manner. By 1954 about 250,000 dimes had been given out. By 1967 the number was over 1 million according to one source.

Construction – the shell of the encasement is made of aluminum. There is a plastic ring inside that the dime is pressed into. This ring has varying inscriptions as shown below. There is a clear plastic cover which is crimped over the dime and ring which unitizes the assembly. However, I have seen a number of encasements that are missing their plastic covers. I believe some of these were done deliberately for inclusion in some souvenir cards, but most were likely lost due to a poor crimp.

Physics – Silver 109 is bombarded with neutrons to create Silver 110 which is a radioactive isotope. Silver 110 has a half-life of 22 seconds which means the total number of radioactive atoms drops by 50% every 22 seconds. When the Silver 110 decays, beta radiation is emitted and the atom decays into Cadmium 110.

The original encasements had differing outer rings over the years. The ones I have found include (in my best guess of chronological order):
ORNL CCCC – Oak Ridge - Neutron Irradiated - uncommon – (CCCC is Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Company)
ORNL UCNC – Oak Ridge – Neutron Irradiated – uncommon- (UCNC is Union Carbide Nuclear Company)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory – Neutron Irradiated - less common but still available.
American Museum of Atomic Energy - Neutron Irradiated – started with black lettering and switched to blue lettering about 1954. These are the most common. Some of these dimes were also mounted with the reverse out so the dates are unknown.
Mid-South Fairs - Atomic Energy Exhibit - Neutron Irradiated - uncommon

When silver dimes ceased production in 1964, the program continued using earlier dated silver dimes but some clad dimes were encased. The aluminum encasements seemed to stop about 1969.

Concurrently, a new holder was introduced where the dime was simply inserted into a plastic holder about the size of a silver dollar. I have seen three types:
Neutron Irradiated Dime – Museum of Atomic Energy - common
Neutron Irradiated Dime – N.Y. World’s Fair 1964-1965 - common
Neutron Irradiated Dime – Nuclear Week In New York – rare Likely only issued from May 18-26, 1968

Photo Section – (please excuse the cell phone photos. I plan to re-shoot when I get my setup back up and running after being in storage.) Not sure why some of the images are so small. Will work on that.

ORNL CCCC

ORNL UCNC

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

American Museum of Atomic Energy

Mid South Fairs

Typical Reverse encasement

Museum of Atomic Energy

World's Fair

Nuclear Week

Souvenir cards were issued as well, here are some that I have found. Encasements typically taped to the cards.

ORNL

American Museum of Atomic Energy

20th Anniversary - 1969

Besides the US issues, the Netherlands issued an irradiated coin as well. Issued circa 1952. Rarely seen. The reverse (translated) reads “made radioactive by means of neutron irradiation”

References: (If you have other references, please share!)

Oak Ridge Associated Universities
https://orau.org/ptp/collection/medalsmementoes/dimes.htm
Ebay Guide
ebay.com/gds/Neutron-Irradiated-Dimes-/10000000002143583/g.html
Numismatic Bibliomania Society
Dec 2011 coinbooks.org/esylum_v14n51a07.html
Dec 2011 coinbooks.org/esylum_v14n52a10.html
Dec 2011 coinbooks.org/esylum_v14n53a13.html
Jan 2012 coinbooks.org/esylum_v15n03a11.html

1630Boston

@Cameonut
@PCGSPhoto has a thread on this from 3 days ago
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/11941299#Comment_11941299

WTB - Neutron Irradiated Dime
PCGSPhotoPCGSPhoto Posts: 409 mod March 20, 2018 2:38PM edited March 20, 2018 4:16PM in Buy, Sell, & Trade - U.S. Coins
Hi
I'm working on a set of modern nuclear-themed coins. One thing I'm looking for is a nice example of an encased irradiated dime.
You can read more about them here:
https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/medalsmementoes/dimes.htm
Personally, I like the last blue plastic example, but they aren't quite as tamper proof as the earlier ones. If you have a nice, well centered one with not a lot of scratches for sale let me know.
Thanks!

1630Boston

PS @Cameonut
That is one heck of a nice collection you have there

MsMorrisine

Cool

DIMEMAN

I have never heard of these.....until now....and never have seen one at a show or anywhere.

PCGSPhoto

That's so rad!

cecropiamoth

Were other denominations used or were only dimes irradiated?

Jeff

MsMorrisine

Are they collectible - must be.

cmerlo1

Awesome post.

Cameonut

@MsMorrisine said:
Are they collectible - must be.

I must admit I went overboard. Collecting them by date and black/blue. Probably have about 100 of them.

AUandAG

Have had a few over the years and kept and then gave to the kids when they were old enough. Don't know if they still have! It was a learning attempt by me that did not work....they had no interest it seems.

bob

Insider2

@DIMEMAN said:
I have never heard of these.....until now....and never have seen one at a show or anywhere.

Look in the token books. I have a few but IMO, the literature in the OP's post is rarer than the tokens! Never saw any of these. Thanks!

JBK

I have two or three somewhere. One has all plastic case. The others are metal but without the plastic window - no sign that they were supposed to have one.

Great assemblage you have - ephemera and all.

Since the metal turns into another element I always wondered if they "contaminated" the melting pot when one found its way into the silver scrap pile.

RogerB

Really nice post. Clear, informative, interesting and not the least bit radioactive!

[To DYI, go to your nearest Big Box Isotope store. Ask for a core of plutonium239 and beryllium9 alloy in a convenient 30x60mm stainless steel holder. File off part of one end for your little neutron projector. This will give you a fun source of 4.5 Mev energy neutrons at about 1.5x10^6/sec over a 24,000 year half-life. You can take this to shows and irritate everyone's coins for a nice fee and produce all sorts of novelty items. But -- keep some potassium iodide (KI) caplets handy for your thyroid and always run around naked to reduce any stray contamination.]

CaptHenway

Nice piece.
Cliff Mishler has hundreds of these, mostly the common ones of course. Whenever I got one in a collection at the coin shop I would put it aside and give it to him the next time I saw him at a convention. I am pretty sure other dealers did also.

thebeav

I've always thought these were pretty cool. Over the years, I've probably had a hundred or so of them. I never collected, just bought and sold.

TeamDennis

Excellent presentation.

keyman64

Nice collection of them! They have been discussed on the forums from time to time but you might be the expert!

BillDugan1959

Clifford Mishler often mentioned irradiated dimes in his Numismatic News columns/commentary. Photos too.

Jcld

Very cool information on something I had never heard of. Such a strange promotion. Very cool collection though, thank you for sharing.

Swampboy

This is one terrific post!
I just picked up one of these.

Years ago I gave a young forum member who is no longer with us one of those blue ones.

PCGSPhoto

Great collection, Cameonut! The Dutch piece, and the white Nuclear Week holder are particularly nice scores. I love the 20th anniversary info card, it sort of reminds me of the Disney book “Our Friend the Atom” which has some incredible mid-century artwork and design.

I am looking for a nice example of the blue Museum of Atomic Energy / Atomic Energy Commission holder - mainly because I think it looks nicest. It’s for a collection that I think I’m going to call NUMISMATIC ATOMICA. US coins don’t particularly recognize the country’s atomic heritage, even though it’s the world’s preeminent nuclear power. Aside from these dimes there’s the Navy Bicentennial mint medal, and a couple mint medals of Admiral Rickover - one of which is shown below with the help of my assistant Chloe.

drwstr123

hchcoin

@CaptHenway said:
Nice piece.
Cliff Mishler has hundreds of these, mostly the common ones of course. Whenever I got one in a collection at the coin shop I would put it aside and give it to him the next time I saw him at a convention. I am pretty sure other dealers did also.

I always thought it would be cool to see Cliff's collection in its entirety. I always respected his collecting habits because it really shows that you can collect some very unique and interesting items without breaking the bank.

dcarr

Neat post.

I have examples of most of those but I am lacking the white "Nuclear Week" and the Netherlands piece (although I have seen the latter listed on eBay before, but not recently).

I have also seen two examples of the early type, but with no printing at all on the cardboard ring around the coin inside the encasement.

I also have a minor variety of the blue-ink version where the dash to the left of "NEUTRON" is completely missing.

Azurescens

So that's what those are. Cool.

jmlanzaf

@JBK said:
I have two or three somewhere. One has all plastic case. The others are metal but without the plastic window - no sign that they were supposed to have one.

Great assemblage you have - ephemera and all.

Since the metal turns into another element I always wondered if they "contaminated" the melting pot when one found its way into the silver scrap pile.

Absolutely not. Even if the silver scrap were 100% irradiated dimes, there is no contamination.

A silver dime contains approximately 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 silver atoms. Irradiation with neutrons turns much less than 100 atoms into isotopes.

Cameonut

A few have mentioned that they have or have seen pieces without the plastic cover. Many were done on purpose as there is no evidence a crimp was attempted. For example, on all three of the American Museum of Atomic Energy souvenir cards I have, none of them has a plastic cover.

But I have also seen pieces where the crimp wasn't done well and the cover could come loose.

Cameonut

@CaptHenway said:
Nice piece.
Cliff Mishler has hundreds of these, mostly the common ones of course. Whenever I got one in a collection at the coin shop I would put it aside and give it to him the next time I saw him at a convention. I am pretty sure other dealers did also.

Yes, I remember an article in Coin World or Numi News several years ago that Cliff had quite a collection. Most or all obtained for a few bucks..

He also writes more in the third NBS reference at the end of the OP.

ricko

@Cameonut.... I have long known about these and have looked for one at coin shows... While I have seen a few, it was never the right one... And you have the right one, as displayed in the OP... a 1942 Merc dime...That was specifically what I looked for at so many shows. Oh well... If you decide to 'liquidate', please let me know... Cheers, RickO

cmerlo1

Again, great post. Here's mine- sounds like it's the most common:

johnny9434

i love to see stuff like that. thanks for sharing it

davewesen

I always wondered if this was a plot to have people carry these around in their pant pockets and become sterile.

EXOJUNKIE

Here is a photo of the front and back of a card not pictured above. Note that the encasement is the scarce "ORNL-UCNC-OAK RIDGE" variety. It is presumed this variety was issued on/with this card.

EXOJUNKIE

These are also occasionally found with a blank ring. An error I presume. Since the mica is intact, I don't know whether the ring is in backwards or if it is simply blank. Here are a couple of different examples:

EXOJUNKIE

Finally, here are three different and scarcer examples with coins in them other than the usually encountered Mercury and Roosevelt dimes. Note that the mica is intact:

davewesen

EXO, I suspect those were just in a dime Roll and pushed in with the rest...

EXOJUNKIE

@davewesen said:
EXO, I suspect those were just in a dime Roll and pushed in with the rest...

Yep, I think you're probably right ... a peculiarity for sure. Barber dimes show up occasionally, but these are the only 3c piece and seated dimes I've ever seen. I've owned them for about 20 years or so.

CascadeChris

That Nuclear Week white plastic one is cool. That font (or one very much like it) is typically associated with the computer age of the 1980s not the 1960s. Neat. I have one of the metal encased ones. I'll look for it and post it if I find it. I think it has a merc in it and looks similar to the 4th pic down IIRC

Cameonut

@EXOJUNKIE
Thanks for posting your pieces.
First, I have only seen photos of the blue souvenir card. Obviously an early example. I don't think I have ever seen one for sale.
Second, I've never seen the blank ring before - DCarr mentioned it as well. I agree that it is likely that the normal ring got flipped over in the process. I've never seen one of these either.
Third, nice early date pieces. These come up from time to time but not often. My earliest is in the same holder but is a 1900.

Lastly, I used to refer to the clear cover as mica as well. Mostly because that it the material that was used on radiation sensors and measuring equipment. But I have never seen an actual mica cover - they have all been plastic.

Thanks so much for sharing.

EXOJUNKIE

@Cameonut said:
@EXOJUNKIE
Thanks for posting your pieces.

No problem. Thanks for putting together the thread. Happy to contribute!

halfhunter

Cool set. Thanks for posting!

ChangeInHistory

I've seen them here and there at shows, but didn't know the background.

Good post!

Batman23

Neat thread! I have a couple common ones.

PCGSPhoto

I picked one up from eBay. This one had the worn look that I kinda like, plus the 1952 date was the same year as the Ivy Mike test which sort of makes the coin pair nicely with my Edward Teller coin.

mannie gray

@DIMEMAN said:
I have never heard of these.....until now....and never have seen one at a show or anywhere.

@DIMEMAN
I believe you .......but as many shows as you go to, these things are really pretty common.
I used to deal in them a lot, they were an easy sale and people would want to see them and ask about them.
I've sold probably a hundred of these things through the years.
As you are a dime guy, I am really surprised you haven't seen them.
Heck, you can usually find a couple at any decent flea market or antique mall.

Something new for you to collect???

tincup

Awesome writeup.... thanks!

Dentuck

The fourth edition of Mega Red, which debuts next week, has an illustrated appendix on irradiated dimes.

CaptHenway

@EXOJUNKIE said:

@davewesen said:
EXO, I suspect those were just in a dime Roll and pushed in with the rest...

Yep, I think you're probably right ... a peculiarity for sure. Barber dimes show up occasionally, but these are the only 3c piece and seated dimes I've ever seen. I've owned them for about 20 years or so.

Fantastic! Never seen a three center in one!
TD

CaptHenway

@Dentuck said:
The fourth edition of Mega Red, which debuts next week, has an illustrated appendix on irradiated dimes.

Does it glow in the dark?

oih82w8

Neat thread! I have seen the Mercury Dimes like these before, but no the other type coins or a Dark Side example (Dutch Fractional Gulden).