Expert: PAPAJACK - 7/9/2008

Question
on the back of the dime it says

one dim

the e is missing

is it worth anything

Answer
Hello K.,               

No coin can be exactly valued without being seen. For the most common cause of missing letters on coins get a good magnifier and light source. Examine the coin around the missing feature. Tilting and turning the coin in all directions with the light across the surface look for other clues.

Are there scratch marks, or does the surface seem different?
Is there a ghost of the missing item or scaring in the area where it should be?
Is the rest of the coins design properly struck?

Missing letters are usually caused by a filled die error.
Grease and debris commonly get caught in the recesses of the dies as they produce coins. When the dies close on the blank the portion of the die filled with this debris won’t let the metal flow into it.

These coins are common with weak or altogether missing features. The price you may get for them over the face value depends on what an error collector may pay for the particular coin.

Error collecting is a branch outside of coins collecting. There is no fixed pricing on these error coins published and each one would have to be seen to be evaluated.

But for just one digit in the date missing it is less than a dollar since it is likely the most common machine error at the US Mint.

I hope this information is helpful.

Feel free to ask another question about US Coins.

Good Luck

PapaJack