1938-S Mercury Dime
Circulation strike struck at the San Francisco Mint · 8,090,000 made
- Mintage
- 8,090,000
- Metal
- 90% silver, 10% copper
- Weight
- 2.5 g
- Diameter
- 17.9 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1938-S Mercury Dime worth?
In worn condition it trades for about its silver content, 0.0723 troy ounces. Uncirculated coins with full luster or attractive toning sell for more.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- A die variety or minting error
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1938-S Mercury Dime rare?
- Not by date: 8.1 million were struck. A sharp uncirculated coin or a known variety is what makes one special.
- Is the 1938-S Mercury Dime silver?
- Yes. It's 90% silver, 10% copper and holds 0.0723 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1938 Mercury Dime?
- On the reverse, to the left of the base of the fasces. Philadelphia dimes have no mint mark. On this coin the mark is S, for San Francisco.
- Which San Francisco dates near 1938 are scarcer?
- None. Within five years either side, no San Francisco issue had a smaller mintage than the 1938-S.
- How many 1938-S Mercury Dime coins were made?
- 8,090,000.
What to check on your 1938-S
- Make sure the mint mark really is an S. A worn or filled mark can be misread. It's what separates your coin from the 1938-D (5.5 million made).
- Don't clean it. Cleaning leaves fine scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors avoid.
- Proof or circulation strike? A proof has mirror-like fields and frosted design details and was sold to collectors, not released in change. The 1938 Mercury Dime Proof (8,728 made) is the one to compare with.
- Judge the grade under good light. Look at the hair above Liberty's forehead and the bands across the fasces. Fully split, rounded center bands ("Full Bands") bring large premiums.
Circulated examples are usually traded for their silver content. Pick out the best ones: original luster and attractive toning lift a coin above melt, while cleaned coins lose most of their collector value.
The story of the 1938-S
Output at San Francisco slipped to 8,090,000 in 1938, from 9.7 million the year before. In 1939 the figure was 11 million.
1938-D came to 5.5 million and 1938 came to 22 million, so neither mint's 1938 coin is much scarcer than the other.
Across San Francisco's 25 Mercury Dime issues, the hardest to find is the 1926-S with 1,520,000 made. The 1938-S is on the scarcer side of the middle. Within the 1930s it's 8th smallest of 22, between the 1934-D (6.8 million) and the 1936-S (9.2 million).
Prewar abundance (1938 to 1941)
Mintages kept rising as the economy recovered and defense spending grew. Philadelphia struck 22,190,000 dimes in 1938, then 67,740,000 in 1939, 65,350,000 in 1940 and 175,090,000 in 1941. Denver and San Francisco followed the same curve, from 5,537,000 for the 1938-D to more than 43 million each in 1941. In all, the three mints made 510,413,000 Mercury dimes dated 1938 to 1941.
Proofs were struck every year, rising from 8,728 in 1938 to 16,557 in 1941. Collectors kept saving business strikes by the roll. As a result, almost every date of the period is easy to find uncirculated. The 1938-D is the scarcest of the group by mintage but is still a common coin. Strikes are generally better than in the 1920s, so full-band examples exist for every date, though the bands still vary a lot from coin to coin.
These are the dimes that most often turn up in old jars, coin folders and inherited collections. A worn piece is worth its metal value, since every one contains 0.0723 troy ounces of silver. Uncirculated coins with full bands bring a small premium or more. Silver dimes stayed in circulation until the Mint switched to copper-nickel clad in 1965, after which people pulled the old silver ones from change, so many of these coins spent only a couple of decades in use.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1938
Felix Schlag's Jefferson nickel replaced the Buffalo nickel after a public design competition.
How to recognize it
Weinman's Liberty faces left in a close-fitting Phrygian cap with small wings, which he meant as a symbol of liberty of thought, not a portrait of the god Mercury. LIBERTY arcs over her head, IN GOD WE TRUST sits in small letters below her chin at the lower left and the date is at the lower right. His AW monogram appears between the date and the Y of LIBERTY. The reverse shows a fasces, a bundle of rods wrapped around an ax blade and tied with bands, with an olive branch for peace curling around it. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA runs along the top, ONE DIME across the bottom and E PLURIBUS UNUM at the right. The mint mark, when there is one, sits at the lower left of the fasces. The coin is 17.9 mm across with a reeded edge.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Mercury Dime (1916–1945) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1938 |
| Mint | San Francisco Mint |
| Mint mark | "S" |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 8,090,000 |
| Face value | 10¢ |
| Composition | 90% silver, 10% copper |
| Weight | 2.5 grams |
| Diameter | 17.9 mm |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Silver content | 0.0723 troy oz (2.250 g) |
| Designer | Adolph A. Weinman |
Other 1938 Mercury Dime issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1938 Mercury Dime | 22,190,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0723 oz |
| 1938 Mercury Dime Proof | 8,728 | Proof | 0.0723 oz |
| 1938-D Mercury Dime | 5,537,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0723 oz |
| 1938-S Mercury Dime | 8,090,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0723 oz |
Mintage: US Mint records as published in standard references, each figure checked against at least two independent sources. How we build these pages.