Rare Dimes Worth is an independent reference focused on rare US dimes — written for collectors trying to verify whether they own a record-setting coin, sourced from PCGS Price Guide, NGC Price Guide, and authenticated auction archives, not speculation.
Who We Are
One of us inherited a box of old coins and found a dime that seemed to trigger wild valuations online — $500,000 listings, viral TikTok videos, auction-house claims. When we actually checked the PCGS CoinFacts archive and searched Heritage's realized price history, the picture became clear: most of those claims were either unverified or based on coins graded at extreme condition levels that almost never appear on the market. We started documenting the real records — the sales that actually happened, backed by primary sources. That work became this reference.
Our focus is narrow by design: we document seven-figure and six-figure authenticated sales for the rarest US dimes across all major series — Bust dimes, Seated Libertys, Barbers, Mercurys, and Roosevelts. We do not speculate about what a coin 'might be worth someday.' We report what collectors have actually paid for authenticated examples in the most recent 15 years of auction records. If you own a rare dime and want to know whether your coin sits in the record-setting range, this reference tells you.
Methodology
Every record price on this site comes from one of five primary sources: PCGS Price Guide certified sales, NGC Price Guide certified sales, Heritage Auctions realized prices (searched by date, lot, and grade), Stack's Bowers auction records, or GreatCollections final sale prices. We cross-reference each record across at least two of these sources to confirm the sale occurred and the grade assigned. When sources disagree on a price (which happens with private-treaty sales or alternative grading), we note the discrepancy and cite the most recently published archive.
For rare dimes specifically, we also verify mintage data against the US Mint records, Lincoln Cent Resource (for context on production runs), and PCGS CoinFacts historical notes. We flag when a record price is tied to an extreme grade (MS-68, MS-69) that may not have traded again in five years, so readers understand the practical scarcity. We update our records quarterly when Heritage holds a major signature auction, and we re-check all prices against NGC and PCGS quarterly bid sheets to catch shifts in the certified market.
Our Standards
We only publish a record price when it appears in a primary auction archive with a publicly available lot number, final price, and assigned grade. We do not publish private estimates, dealer listings, or valuations from secondary sources. If a coin sold for $250,000 at Heritage in 2019 but has not appeared at auction since, we report that sale as the most recent record — and we flag that no subsequent sales exist. This matters because the gap between 'what one coin sold for once' and 'what your coin is worth today' can be enormous, especially in the upper grades where the pool of buyers shrinks dramatically. We distinguish between retail valuations (what a dealer might list a coin for) and realized prices (what a collector actually paid). That spread is often 40–70 percent. For any rare dime valued above $5,000, condition and authentication are not optional — they are the entire value equation. We refuse to suggest that an ungraded dime in a shoe box is worth auction-record money.
Disclosure
We do not buy, sell, or appraise coins — we are a reference, not a dealer; we do not accept paid placement for coin valuations or auction-house promotional listings; we do not publish private-treaty estimates or dealer price guides without a primary auction archive source that proves the sale occurred; we do not certify coins or claim expertise in authentication — that role belongs to PCGS, NGC, or CACG, and any valuation on this site assumes professional grading.
Contact
If you spot a pricing discrepancy, a missing record sale, or a recent realized price that should be added to the archive, please submit it via the contact form. We verify all tips against primary auction sources before publishing updates. Your input helps us stay accurate.