Rare dime worth a lot of money heading to Tampa coin show this week

Rare dime coming to Tampa

Lloyd Sowers reports

TAMPA, Fla. - These days, some may wonder how much a dime is really worth. But, one dime coming to a Tampa coin show is worth a lot.

"It's already bid up to $250,000, and we expect it to sell for much more than that," said Ian Russell of Great Collections Certified Coin and Paper Money Auctions. "We're hoping it realizes over half a million dollars."

Why? Because of a mistake at the mint in 1975, they were making their proof dimes incorrectly.

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"At some point, an employee at the mint noticed and stopped anymore from being produced," said Russell.

The mistake had to do with the mint mark. The letter "S" was supposed to appear on the coin, denoting that it was minted in San Francisco. The dimes that were mistakes were minted without the mint mark, making them very rare.

Russell said only two are known to exist, and the one coming to Tampa was purchased by a collector in 1978 for around $18,000. He said the other was purchased by a collector recently for around $500,000.

If the dime coming to Tampa fetches that much, it will be worth 5 million normal dimes.

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"It's the trophy of coins," said Russell. "It's THEE coin."

Great Collections Auctions is part of the Great American Coin and Collectibles Show this Wednesday-Friday at the Tampa Convention Center. For more information, visit www.greatcollections.com and www.gacc.show.

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