Soon after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in April 1945, legislation was introduced by Virginia Congressman Ralph H. Daughton that called for the replacement of the Mercury dime with one bearing Roosevelt's image.The dime was chosen to honor Roosevelt partly due to his efforts in the founding of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (later renamed the March of Dimes), which originally served to raise money for polio research and to aid victims of the disease and their families.The public had been urged to send in a dime to the Foundation, and by Roosevelt's death, the Foundation was already popularly known as the "March of Dimes". Due to the limited amount of time available to design the new coin, the Roosevelt dime was the first regular-issue U.S. coin designed by a Mint employee in more than 40 years. Chief Engraver John R. Sinnock was chosen, as he had already designed a Mint presidential medal of Roosevelt.

The US dime was released to the public on January 30, 1946, which would have been Roosevelt's 64th birthday. Sinnock's design placed his initials, "JS", at the base of Roosevelt's neck, on the coin's obverse. His reverse design elements of a torch, olive branch, and oak branch symbolized, respectively, liberty, peace, and victory.

With the passage of the Coinage Act of 1965, the composition of the dime changed from 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper to a clad "sandwich" of copper between two layers of an alloy of 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel. Soon after the change of composition, silver dimes (as well as silver quarters and half dollars) began to disappear from circulation, as people receiving them in change hoarded them.

Mintmarks The mintmark from 1946 through 1964 is to the left of the base of the torch. From 1968 onward, mintmarks appear above the date. Mintmarks include:

* None Philadelphia Mint in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
* P Philadelphia Mint in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1980 -
* D (Denver Mint in Denver, Colorado)
* S (San Francisco Mint in San Francisco, California)

SPECIFICATIONS: Diameter: 17.9 millimeters

1946-1964 Weight: 2.50 grams (silver) Composition: .900 silver, .100 copper Net Weight: .07234 ounce pure silver

1965 - Present Weight: 2.27 grams (CuNi-clad) Composition: .750 copper, .250 nickel bonded to pure copper Edge: Reeded (Information gathered from - Wikipedia.org, Coin Resource.org, "The Red Book - A Guide Book of United States Coins", and other sources)

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