1965 Roosevelt Dime

The 1965 Roosevelt dime is the first clad dime in American history. The Coinage Act of 1965, signed by President Johnson on July 23, eliminated silver from the dime and quarter, replacing the 90% silver composition with a copper-nickel clad sandwich: pure copper core bonded between outer layers of 75% copper and 25% nickel. The change was driven by rising silver prices that had made the metal in a dime worth more than ten cents, triggering massive hoarding and melting. Johnson specifically chose not to include the dime in his remarks about silver content, because the dime contained no silver at all under the new law.

Philadelphia struck 1,652,140,570 clad dimes in 1965, an astronomical figure that dwarfed every previous year. The Mint removed mint marks from all coins in 1965-1967 to discourage collectors from hoarding specific mint issues, so the 1965 dime carries no mintmark regardless of which facility produced it. No proof sets were offered; Special Mint Sets replaced them. The 1965 is the most common Roosevelt dime by total production and is available in any condition at face value. Its significance is entirely historical: the first clad dime, the beginning of the modern coinage era.