1955 Roosevelt Dime: The Silver Series’ Lowest Mintage
Coin Encyclopedia · 7 min read · Published November 7, 2026
The 1955 Philadelphia Roosevelt dime holds a quiet record: at 12,828,381 struck, it is the lowest-mintage regular issue of the whole silver series. No other silver Roosevelt dime was struck in smaller numbers, and the guide that calls it the lowest mintage is the same guide that puts it at $25 to $150+ in high grade. Worn examples are common — 12,828,381 is still a lot of coins — but the date is the one every silver Roosevelt set is measured against.
This page treats the 1955 as a mintage story first and a value story second. The grade table below shows “—” where our guide has not researched a grade, and the high-grade range of $25 to $150+ is carried in the text and the answers below, where it belongs. The live results panel near the bottom checks for newly reported results every time it loads.
The lowest mintage of the silver series
The Roosevelt dime’s silver run lasted from 1946 to 1964, and across those nineteen years the Philadelphia Mint usually struck dimes by the tens or hundreds of millions. The 1955 issue broke that pattern: 12,828,381 coins, the smallest regular-issue mintage of the silver series, and the only one under thirteen million. The Mint struck fewer dimes in 1955 because demand was lower — the post-war coin shortage had eased, the economy was steady, and the presses simply had less to do.
That number needs context, because 12,828,381 is small only by Roosevelt standards. Beside the 1921-D Mercury dime at 1,080,000, or the 1895-O Barber dime at 440,000, it is an enormous mintage — and that is why worn 1955 dimes are common and cheap. The scarcity of the 1955 is not in worn grades, where millions survive. It is in high grade, where the coins that were never saved are missing, and where the $25 to $150+ range in our guide begins to make sense.
What a 1955 Roosevelt dime is worth by grade
Our guide has not researched grade-by-grade values for the 1955 yet, and the table below says so plainly. What it has researched is the high-grade range: $25 to $150+ in high grade, from our Roosevelt dime guide. A dash is not a zero and it is not a guess — it is a gap, and this page would rather show the gap than invent a figure for it.
| Grade | Estimated value |
|---|---|
| Good (G-4) | — |
| Fine (F-12) | — |
| Extremely Fine (XF-40) | — |
| About Uncirculated (AU-50) | — |
| Mint State 60 (MS-60) | — |
| Mint State 65 (MS-65) | — |
Guide values reviewed November 5, 2026 — figures update live from our Worker.
In high grade, our Roosevelt dime guide puts the 1955 at $25 to $150+ — the range that covers sharp, lustrous, Full Torch examples. The live module on this page checks our Worker for reported results for this exact date and grade on every load.
Read the range as a shape, not a promise. A 1955 with soft torch bands and dull surfaces sits at the bottom of it; a sharply struck example with full bands and original lustre sits at the top. The live figures above update from our Worker as new results are reported, so the numbers you see here are the latest our system holds.
Why circulated is common and gem is not
The 1955’s paradox is easy to state and easy to miss: the lowest mintage in the series, and worn examples everywhere. The explanation is arithmetic. Twelve point eight million coins is a small mintage for a Roosevelt dime, but it is still twelve point eight million coins, and almost all of them went into circulation — into lunch counters, bus fares, and pay envelopes — where they wore down honestly for decades. A worn 1955 is not a rarity. It is a survivor of the ordinary life of a coin.
The gem is the rarity, and the reason is the same as on every early Roosevelt date: nobody saved them. There were no mint sets in 1955 that held a Philadelphia dime aside, no rolls put away by collectors, and no reason for anyone to think a new dime was worth keeping. The coins that survived in high grade did so by accident — dropped behind a drawer, forgotten in a jar — and that accident is what the $25 to $150+ range is really describing.
The Full Torch test
Turn the coin over and find the torch. Horizontal bands wrap it, and Full Torch means those bands are fully separated into clean, distinct lines, with the flame crisp above them. The designation applies only to Mint State coins, and on the 1955 it is the difference between the bottom and the top of the high-grade range: a Mint State coin without full bands sits near $25, and the same coin with them runs toward $150+.
Judge the bands under a single light, tilting the coin slowly. Full cartwheel lustre should roll across the surface without a break, and the bands should be raised and distinct from edge to edge. Do not confuse a soft strike with wear: wear flattens the high points and dulls the lustre, while a soft strike leaves the lustre intact and the detail simply shallow. Never clean a silver dime to make the bands easier to read — cleaning strips original surfaces and destroys collector value instantly.
Specs and the silver floor
Under the mintage record, the 1955 is a standard silver Roosevelt dime: 90% silver and 10% copper, 2.5 grams, 17.9 millimetres across, with 0.07234 troy ounces of pure silver — about $3.77 at the November 2026 silver level near $52.07 an ounce. The silver issues ran from 1946 to 1964, when clad coinage replaced them.
Metal floor updates live from our Worker — last updated November 7, 2026.
That silver floor is the safety net under every 1955. Even a heavily worn example never falls to face value, and a genuine example in any grade is worth more than the ten cents stamped on it. Check the edge as well: a silver dime shows a solid silver-grey edge with no copper stripe, while a clad dime reveals a distinct copper-brown stripe running through the middle.
Verified auction records
No standalone record for the 1955 Philadelphia dime sits in our verified records file. The series record belongs to a different coin entirely: the 1975 No-S proof, of which only two are known, at $506,250. That figure describes a proof error in a league of its own, not this date — the grade table above, and the live results panel below it, are the honest measures for the 1955.
For scale, the 1955’s market is defined by its mintage and its high-grade range rather than by a single headline: worn examples trade as silver, and the finest Full Torch examples are the ones that make the news when they appear.
Latest reported results for this coin
Checking for newly reported results…
Your 1955 Roosevelt dime questions, answered
How much is a 1955 Roosevelt dime worth?
In high grade, our Roosevelt dime guide puts the 1955 at $25 to $150+. Worn examples trade near the silver floor. The grade-by-grade figures are not yet researched in our guide, so the table above shows — until live results fill it in.
Why is the 1955 Roosevelt dime the lowest mintage of the silver series?
Philadelphia struck 12,828,381 in 1955 — the smallest regular-issue mintage of the silver series, which ran from 1946 to 1964. Demand was lower that year, and the presses simply had less to do.
Is the 1955 Roosevelt dime silver?
Yes. Every Roosevelt dime dated 1946 to 1964 is 90% silver, with 0.07234 troy ounces of pure silver. The live metal floor for this coin is in the specs section above.
What does Full Torch mean on a 1955 Roosevelt dime?
Full Torch means the horizontal bands on the torch are fully separated into clean, distinct lines. It applies only to Mint State coins, and on the 1955 it is the difference between the bottom and the top of the $25 to $150+ high-grade range.
Where is the mint mark on a 1955 Roosevelt dime?
On the reverse, to the left of the torch. No letter means Philadelphia, D means Denver, and S means San Francisco. From 1980 the mint mark moved to the obverse, above the date.
Check your 1955
Run the date and mint mark through the free Coin Value Checker for an instant estimate, or get a Grade-or-Not verdict on whether your coin is worth certifying. The full series guide is here: Roosevelt Dime Values by Date and Grade.
Written for the record: the 1955 is the lowest-mintage silver Roosevelt dime, and this guide exists so the next one found gets its mintage recognised before it is spent.
This guide is for education — learn the coin first, and get a professional opinion before buying or selling.