By and large, missing-mintmark error coins are uncommon. They’re supposed to be. But as numismatists have learned over the years, accidents will happen. In the numismatic world, these “accidents” usually result in some rather fortuitous collectibles. Among these are the various missing-mintmark coins of the late 20th century, including the 1968 No-S Proof Roosevelt Dime. This was the first of several modern proof coins absent their mintmark, and not many of these 1968 No-S proofs were struck.
The 1968 No-S Proof Roosevelt Dime can be reasonably categorized as a transitional error. After all, it arose during the first year the San Francisco Mint had assumed the responsibilities of striking proof coinage, a duty still usually defaulting to the “S” Mint (even though other mints frequently strike proofs these days). However, up through 1964, the Philadelphia Mint had been the origin of virtually all United States proof coins, with few very and numismatically prominent exceptions.
Proof production was temporarily halted from 1965 through 1967, when the U.S. Mint was churning out circulation strikes to stave off a major coin shortage. But when proofs were back online in 1968, their production was transferred across the country to the mint’s office in San Francisco, a facility whose mettle was proven when it was tasked to strike millions of mintmark-less coins amid recovery from the coin shortage.
It’s understandable at the time that a force of habit – or perhaps mere forgetfulness – caused a coiner to miss hand-punching one of the obverse proof dies with an “S” mintmark. And it led to one of the rarest missing-S varieties of the 20th century. PCGS estimates that only a few dozen or so of the 1968 No-S proofs were emitted, and they are seldom offered for sale. When they do appear in the marketplace, prices are generally in the range of $20,000 and up.
Cameo specimens are rarer than non-cameo examples, a scenario that’s rather par for the course with any U.S. proofs predating the late 1970s. The record price for a 1968 No-S Proof Roosevelt Dime is a stunning $48,875, which was achieved by a PR68CAM specimen during a 2006 Heritage Auctions sale.