1938 Mercury Dime Proof
Proof struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 8,728 made
- Mintage
- 8,728
- Metal
- 90% silver, 10% copper
- Weight
- 2.5 g
- Diameter
- 17.9 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1938 Mercury Dime Proof worth?
Collectors pay a real premium for this date, worn or not, because far fewer were made than usual. Uncirculated pieces go much higher.
What would make yours worth more:
- Grade and, for proofs, strong cameo contrast
- A die variety or minting error
- Certification by PCGS or NGC, which buyers expect for scarce dates
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1938 Mercury Dime Proof rare?
- Fairly. The Mint made 8,728 for collectors. Most were kept in their original packaging.
- Is the 1938 Mercury Dime Proof silver?
- Yes. It's 90% silver, 10% copper and holds 0.0723 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1938 Mercury Dime?
- On the reverse, to the left of the base of the fasces. Philadelphia dimes have no mint mark.
- How many 1938 Mercury Dime proofs were made?
- 8,728.
What to check on your 1938
- There's no mint mark on this one, so the date and condition are what matter.
- Judge the grade under good light. Look at the hair above Liberty's forehead and the bands across the fasces. Fully split, rounded center bands ("Full Bands") bring large premiums.
Proofs from 1938 were struck one at a time in small numbers and many were later spent or mishandled. Look for hairlines from cleaning, which lower the grade.
The story of the 1938
Prewar abundance (1938 to 1941)
Mintages kept rising as the economy recovered and defense spending grew. Philadelphia struck 22,190,000 dimes in 1938, then 67,740,000 in 1939, 65,350,000 in 1940 and 175,090,000 in 1941. Denver and San Francisco followed the same curve, from 5,537,000 for the 1938-D to more than 43 million each in 1941. In all, the three mints made 510,413,000 Mercury dimes dated 1938 to 1941.
Proofs were struck every year, rising from 8,728 in 1938 to 16,557 in 1941. Collectors kept saving business strikes by the roll. As a result, almost every date of the period is easy to find uncirculated. The 1938-D is the scarcest of the group by mintage but is still a common coin. Strikes are generally better than in the 1920s, so full-band examples exist for every date, though the bands still vary a lot from coin to coin.
These are the dimes that most often turn up in old jars, coin folders and inherited collections. A worn piece is worth its metal value, since every one contains 0.0723 troy ounces of silver. Uncirculated coins with full bands bring a small premium or more. Silver dimes stayed in circulation until the Mint switched to copper-nickel clad in 1965, after which people pulled the old silver ones from change, so many of these coins spent only a couple of decades in use.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1938
Felix Schlag's Jefferson nickel replaced the Buffalo nickel after a public design competition.
How to recognize it
Weinman's Liberty faces left in a close-fitting Phrygian cap with small wings, which he meant as a symbol of liberty of thought, not a portrait of the god Mercury. LIBERTY arcs over her head, IN GOD WE TRUST sits in small letters below her chin at the lower left and the date is at the lower right. His AW monogram appears between the date and the Y of LIBERTY. The reverse shows a fasces, a bundle of rods wrapped around an ax blade and tied with bands, with an olive branch for peace curling around it. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA runs along the top, ONE DIME across the bottom and E PLURIBUS UNUM at the right. The mint mark, when there is one, sits at the lower left of the fasces. The coin is 17.9 mm across with a reeded edge.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Mercury Dime (1916–1945) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1938 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Proof |
| Mintage | 8,728 |
| Face value | 10¢ |
| Composition | 90% silver, 10% copper |
| Weight | 2.5 grams |
| Diameter | 17.9 mm |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Silver content | 0.0723 troy oz (2.250 g) |
| Designer | Adolph A. Weinman |
Other 1938 Mercury Dime issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1938 Mercury Dime | 22,190,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0723 oz |
| 1938 Mercury Dime Proof | 8,728 | Proof | 0.0723 oz |
| 1938-D Mercury Dime | 5,537,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0723 oz |
| 1938-S Mercury Dime | 8,090,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0723 oz |
Mintage: US Mint records as published in standard references, each figure checked against at least two independent sources. How we build these pages.