1978 Roosevelt Dime
Circulation strike struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 663,980,000 made
- Mintage
- 663,980,000
- Metal
- Copper core clad in 75% copper / 25% nickel
- Weight
- 2.268 g
- Diameter
- 17.91 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 1978 Roosevelt Dime worth?
Worn examples are worth face value and can be spent. Keep it only if it looks uncirculated or shows a known variety.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- Full torch bands (FT)
- A die variety or minting error
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1978 Roosevelt Dime rare?
- Not by date: 664 million were struck. A sharp uncirculated coin or a known variety is what makes one special.
- Is the 1978 Roosevelt Dime silver?
- No. It's copper core clad in 75% copper / 25% nickel. Dimes dated 1964 and earlier are 90% silver.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1978 Roosevelt Dime?
- On the obverse, just above the date. "P" appears from 1980. No mint mark means Philadelphia.
- Which Philadelphia dates near 1978 are scarcer?
- The 1979 at 315,440,000, the 1973 at 315,670,000, the 1974 at 470,248,000, plus 4 more. So the 1978 is one of the easier dates of its stretch.
- How many 1978 Roosevelt Dime coins were made?
- 663,980,000.
What to check on your 1978
- There's no mint mark on this one, so the date and condition are what matter.
- A face that's fully copper colored could be a missing clad layer error. Patchy discoloration is usually damage.
- Judge the grade under good light. Check the horizontal bands on the torch on the reverse. "Full Bands" (FB) coins, where the bands are complete and separated, carry big premiums. On the obverse look at Roosevelt's hair above the ear.
With 664 million made, the 1978 still turns up in everyday change. Keep yours only if it looks uncirculated or shows a variety; otherwise it's worth face value.
The story of the 1978
Output at Philadelphia slipped to 663,980,000 in 1978, from 797 million the year before. In 1979 the figure was 315 million.
It was the big producer of the year, well ahead of 1978-D (283 million).
Across Philadelphia's 80 Roosevelt Dime issues, the hardest to find is the 1955 with 12,450,181 made. The 1978 is on the scarcer side of the middle. Within the 1970s it's 17th smallest of 20, between the 1975 (586 million) and the 1976-D (695 million).
Mint marks move above the date (1968 to 1991)
In 1968 the mint mark moved to the obverse just above the date. San Francisco began striking proof dimes for collectors the same year. A few proof dies left the Mint without the S, creating the rare no-S proofs dated 1968, 1970, 1975 and 1983. The 1975 is one of the great modern rarities with only two examples known. Proof sets of 1979 and 1981 show two mint mark styles: a filled Type 1 S and a clearer Type 2 S that is scarcer.
Philadelphia added a P mint mark to the dime in 1980. Two years later a Philadelphia die missing its P reached circulation. The 1982 no-P dime became one of the most popular modern errors. Business strike mintages stayed in the hundreds of millions per mint and passed one billion at Philadelphia in 1988. Dimes from these years turn up in change constantly. Only well-struck uncirculated pieces, proof varieties and errors draw real collector interest.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1978
The Eisenhower dollar was struck for the last time.
How to recognize it
Franklin Roosevelt faces left with LIBERTY in front of him, IN GOD WE TRUST below his chin and the date at the lower right. The designer's initials JS sit below the neck. The reverse shows a torch flanked by an olive branch and an oak branch, with E PLURIBUS UNUM across the field. The mint mark was to the left of the torch base until 1964 and has been above the date since 1968.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Roosevelt Dime (1946–present) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1978 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 663,980,000 |
| Face value | 10¢ |
| Composition | Copper core clad in 75% copper / 25% nickel |
| Weight | 2.268 grams |
| Diameter | 17.91 mm |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Designer | John R. Sinnock |
Other 1978 Roosevelt Dime issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 Roosevelt Dime | 663,980,000 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1978-D Roosevelt Dime | 282,847,540 | Circulation strike | – |
Mintage: Roosevelt dime mintage figures (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from US Mint records and the Guide Book of United States Coins. How we build these pages.