Owner Comments:

The Roosevelt dime, a memorial to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt entered circulation in 1946. The obverse of the Roosevelt Dime highlights a bust of FDR and the reverse a torch flanked by an olive branch on the left and an oak branch on the right. The torch as the central device on the reverse of the Roosevelt Dime represents the flame of freedom, the olive branch, peace, and the oak branch, victory. Mintmarks on Roosevelt Dimes minted before 1965 appear on the reverse of the coin located to the bottom-left of the torch. Coins dated 1965 to 1967 have no mintmarks based on the perception by the US Mint that people hoarded coins because of their mintmarks. The use of mintmarks returned to our coinage in 1968. However, the placement of the mintmark on the Roosevelt dime changed from the reverse of the coin to the obverse. Beginning in 1980 the “P” mintmark appeared on the obverse of all circulating coins struck at the Philadelphia mint, just as it does for this MS-67, 1988-P Roosevelt Dime. The only exception to this is the Lincoln Cent, which has no mintmark. Dimes with strong strikes that display fully split bands on the handle of the torch, as does this dime earn the FT or “Full Torch” designation. Dimes dating from 1965 forward have a copper-nickel composition due to the coinage act of 1965, removing silver from the dime’s composition. This 1988 Roosevelt Dime also corresponds to the birth year of my son.