1975 No S Proof Proof

The 1975 No S Proof Roosevelt Dime is the rarest of the four major No-S Roosevelt proof errors and one of the genuine landmark rarities of modern American coinage. Only two examples are confirmed by PCGS, a population that puts the date in a class of its own among twentieth-century US issues. The error originated at the San Francisco Assay Office during preparation of obverse dies for the 1975 proof set program, when at least one die went into production without the S mintmark that should sit below the date. Coins struck from that die were packaged into normal 1975 proof sets and sold through the program before the omission was identified. Unlike the 1968 and 1970 No-S Roosevelts, which exist in populations of roughly two dozen and roughly 2,200 respectively, the 1975 No-S survived in single-digit numbers and remains effectively unobtainable in the open market. Realized prices include a $349,600 sale of the PR68 in 2011, a $456,000 sale of the same PR68 at Heritage in 2019, and a $506,250 sale of the PR67 Ruth E. discovery coin at GreatCollections on October 27, 2024, which now stands as the public auction record for the issue.

Authentication is absolute. The defining diagnostic is the complete absence of the S mintmark from below the date, paired with the surface character of a true San Francisco proof strike: deeply mirrored fields, squared rim transitions, and crisp design detail throughout. The proof surface separation is essential because a 1975 Philadelphia business strike also lacks a mintmark but shows matte fields, frosty texture, and rounded rim transitions that no proof die can replicate. Beyond surface diagnostics, encapsulation by PCGS or NGC with explicit "No S" attribution on the holder label is the only acceptable form of authentication; both confirmed examples are PCGS-certified, with the first graded PR68 and the second PR67, and any raw piece or third-party slab without explicit attribution should be treated as fraudulent or misidentified until verified by a major service. Examination of the area below the date should show clean, undisturbed proof field with no tooling, no abrasion, and no residue from an attempted mintmark removal, since chemically or mechanically altered S-mint proofs are the primary counterfeit pathway.

For collectors, the 1975 No-S Proof is not a coin one assembles a Roosevelt set around; it is a coin that appears at major sales every several years and trades at six-figure prices to specialists who collect at the top of the modern rarity ladder. The first example was discovered in a routine 1975 proof set bought from the Mint, and the second surfaced years later through a similar channel, which means at least one additional example could in principle still be sitting in an unsearched 1975 set somewhere in the world. The remote possibility of further discovery sustains a small but persistent market in unopened original 1975 proof set packaging. For the broader story of how the resumption of San Francisco proof striking produced the No-S error family, see the Roosevelt Dime series history.