Roosevelt Dimes aren’t necessarily known for their high-flying key dates. After all, the few true key dates in the business-strike arm of the series aren’t necessarily all that rare or valuable. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some important dates that “Roosie” aficionados clamor over, with some of the top gets residing among the Roosevelt Dimes of 1955.
The year 1955 is notable in the Roosevelt Dime series for the anemic mintages reported across the three circulation issues struck that year; all told, there were only 44,919,181 business-strike coins cumulatively struck that year across the three facilities that produced them: Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco. A breakdown of the mintages reveals 12,450,181 were made at the Philadelphia Mint, 13,959,000 were produced in Denver, and San Francisco emitted 18,510,000.
Why did the U.S. Mint strike so few dimes in 1955? An economic recession spanning 1953-1954 following the de facto end of the Korean War led to low demand for new U.S. coins heading into 1955. In fact, a survey of all U.S. coin series of the mid-1950s shows that mintages in general were down across the board in 1955. Thus, the dimes saw a much lower output despite the fact that by 1955 the wellbeing of the U.S. economy had materially rebounded.
While mintages of 1955 Roosevelt Dimes were about as thin as the dimes themselves, that doesn’t mean puny quantities exist for collectors today. By the mid-1950s, the numismatic hobby was booming in popularity across the United States; many collectors were keenly aware of just how scarce 1955 Roosevelt Dimes would be. Therefore, many collectors speculatively purchased and held onto rolls of 1955 dimes, leading to millions of examples existing in Mint State grades.
The profusion of Mint State 1955 Roosevelt Dimes in collector hands and known holdings means their prices are mostly kept in check. Prices largely ride the waves of the prevailing market, with lower-end Mint State examples selling for small premiums over the coins’ spot value. Examples in grades of MS67 or higher (as available) are the scarcest. Those exhibiting Full Bands (FB) detail are the rarest of all, with the 1955 trading for approximately $4,500 in MS67+FB, the 1955-D taking $6,500 in a finest-known grade of MS68FB, and the 1955-S notching $4,500 in MS67+FB.