1945-S Mercury Dime

The story of the 1945-S

Output at San Francisco slipped to 41,920,000 in 1945, from 49 million the year before. It was also the last year of the series.

1945-D came to 40 million and 1945 came to 159 million, so neither mint's 1945 coin is much scarcer than the other.

Across San Francisco's 25 Mercury Dime issues, the hardest to find is the 1926-S with 1,520,000 made. The 1945-S is one of the easier ones. Within the 1940s it's 4th smallest of 18, between the 1945-D (40 million) and the 1941-S (43 million).

More on the 1945-S

San Francisco struck 41,920,000 dimes in 1945, its last Mercury dimes and slightly more than Denver's 40,245,000. The coin is common in every grade, but it comes in two forms that are worth telling apart: one with a normal S and one with a much smaller Micro S mint mark.

The Micro S was made with a mint mark punch originally prepared for coins the US Mint struck for the Philippines. Compare your S with the mint mark on another San Francisco dime of the 1940s. The Micro S is clearly smaller, while a normal S fills more of the space at the lower left of the fasces. The variety carries a premium over the regular coin, more so in uncirculated condition. Don't confuse a worn or weakly struck normal S with the micro version; the difference should be one of size, not sharpness. Otherwise the 1945-S trades at metal value in circulated grades.

Wartime records, the overdates and the last year (1942 to 1945)

World War II pushed dime production to record levels. Philadelphia struck 205,410,000 in 1942 and 231,410,000 in 1944, the highest mintage of the series. The three mints together made 1,223,928,000 Mercury dimes dated 1942 to 1945. Even the smallest issue of the era, the 1945-D, came to 40,245,000. Unlike the nickel, the dime kept its 90% silver alloy throughout the war.

The famous 1942/1 overdates belong here. One working die at Philadelphia and one at Denver received an impression from a 1941 hub and then another from a 1942 hub, leaving traces of a 1 under the final 2. The Philadelphia coin was found in circulation and reported in 1943. It is the bolder of the two. The Denver version is fainter and was not reported in print until 1960. Both are included in their regular mintages and carry a significant premium. Proof dimes ended with 22,329 struck in 1942 and proof coinage stopped for the rest of the war.

After President Franklin Roosevelt died in April 1945, the Treasury chose the dime for his portrait and the Mercury design ended with the 1945 coins. Two things to check on the late dates: the 1945 Philadelphia dime is very common but rarely found with fully split bands. The 1945-S comes with a normal S or a much smaller Micro S, made with a punch first cut for coins struck for the Philippines.

Elsewhere in US coinage in 1945

The last wartime silver nickels were struck before the regular copper-nickel alloy returned in 1946.