Expert: Ronald Fern - 2/16/2010

Question
I used to work in a bank rolling and bagging coins for the branches and getting cash and currency from thee Fed. Res.  MY old Brandt machine once got set for a $500.00 bag of dimes in the late 60's when i noticed a dime that would not go thru the machine.  As I retrieved the coin after shutting down the machine it appeared to be a well struck dime but with the thickness of a quarter. I was able to substitute another dime I had and have kept it thinking it was one of a very few dimes struck on a quarter sheet of the clad metal.  It is late 60's and in safe keeping but I'd have to say 1968 +- 2 yrs. Any idea as to its value?

Answer
Hi Bill:

Thanks for giving me the opportunity on answering your question.

You likely have what is called a quarter stock dime. It is the opposite of the better known dime stock quarter. The "common" date was the 1970D, with thousands showing up in circulation. At one time, I had a roll of circulated dime stock quarters. In both cases, the wrong stock was picked out for the planchet blanking process. The mint used to manufacture their own planchets. That job is now done outside the mint facilities by private vendors.

Dime stock quarters showed up in circulation, and would be refused in vending machines as too light. The quarter stock dimes were too "fat" to fit in the vending machine slots. They are usually well struck, because the coin striking equipment was set to the correct thickness, and thicker planchet blanks were intermingled with the normal ones. I believe I had several quarter stock dimes, a 1968D and 1969D, many years ago.

As far as value, they sold for about $75 in the early 1980's. The error market has since exploded. My guess would be that this error could bring $200 to $350 to and interested collector.

Here is a "Numismatic News" article on related errors: http://www.numismaticnews.net/article/Kennedy_struck_on_quarter_stock/

You may want to check EBay listings under US coins in the error category to see what these errors are going for. You may also want to check out these links on error coin values:
http://www.coinsite.com/html/USErrorPrices.asp
http://www.minterrornews.com/priceguide.html

You should consider getting the coin authenticated professionally. IGC, NGC, and PCGS slab and grade errors. You would get a better price for the coin in a large auction. Some dealers would likely pay no more than $50 to $100 for the coin to resell it. If you live near a coin shop, I'd suggest you let them look at the coin. Most dealers will offer an opinion as to the authenticity and value at no charge.

If you should decide to sell your coin to a dealer, remember they will offer about 50% to 60% of the retail value. You should always get two or more estimates, and try and deal with PNG (Professional Numismatists Guild) dealers when possible. I'll list the link for you to check dealers near you.

To find a PNG dealer, see Link: http://www.pngdealers.com/dealersearch.php

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Thank You and Good Luck in your collecting.