Owner Comments:
In 1946, the San Francisco Mint produced about 28 million Roosevelt dimes. In contrast to the 1946-P, which had one of the top ten highest mintage among the silver Roosevelt series, the 1946-S is one of the top ten lowest mintages among the series. Nevertheless, hundreds of thousand 1946-S Roosevelt survive in mint state condition. The date is notable for have several double die and RPM variety listings. In addition to these, one of the rarest Roosevelt dime varieties can be found on the 1946-S date – the Sans Serif mintmark.
There are three Mintmark Styles that can be found for the 1946-S Roosevelt dime. They are the Trumpet-Tail, Ball-Serif, and Sans Serif mintmark.
The Trumpet-Tail mintmark is the most common style found Roosevelt dimes. In fact, it is the only MMS used on Roosevelt dimes for the years 1948 through 1955, the final year business-struck coins were minted in San Francisco. Only the 1946-S and 1947-S Roosevelt dimes have varying Mintmark Styles.
First introduced in 1941 on the Mercury Head dime the Trumpet-Tail mintmark features the tail of the S that is flared out like the bell shaped end of a trumpet.
The Ball-Serif mintmark, sometimes called the “Knob-tail” mintmark, is a variation of the S mintmark that has a knob or teardrop shape to its upper tail. This style is only observed on 1944-S and 1945-S Mercury Head Dimes and the 1946-S Roosevelt dimes with ODV-001. 1946-S Roosevelts with the combination of ODV-002 and MMS-006 are unknown to exist.
Research done by Bill Fivaz reported a third style, known as the Sans-Serif mintmark. This style of the S mintmark is listed in the Cherrypickers' Guide as FS-504. However, it is extremely rare. There are less than five known examples of 1946-S Roosevelts with the Sans Serif mintmark. Even a circulated example could be thousands of dollars at market.
The Sans Serif mintmark can also be found on the 1947-S Roosevelt dime. However, it is not as rare or valuable.
The 1946-S here has an attractive gold tone with hints of red and green on the obverse. Under magnification this tone is a bit streaky, but has above-average appeal to the naked eye. The reverse is mostly white with great luster, with a very light spot on the rim at 7 o'clock and much smaller scattered spots visible only under magnification elsewhere.
The strike on the obverse is weak with strong spread in some of the lettering, particularly the “J” in John Skinner's initials, which is just barely visible. The reverse has a better strike with very fine details.
Torch lines are very clear, well-defined, and uninterrupted. When I originally purchased this coin, it was encased in the seventh generation of NGC slabs, before the company began FT designation. After sending this coin to NGC for designation review, the company added the FT designation and reslabbed it. Overall, this is a very nice coin for the collection.
Photos by Todd Pollock of BluCC Photos.