Is The 1925-D Mercury Dime a Valuable Rarity?

The Mercury Dime series is known for its headline key date, the 1916-D, as well as a handful of important semikeys and varieties (hello, 1921 and 1942/1 entries). However, this popular 20th-century series has many other dates worth checking out, including the 1925-D Mercury Dime. Now, what makes the 1925-D so special? Isn’t it the kind of “anything” Mercury Dime that pops up in rolls of mixed dates or other random assemblages?

Maybe… Once upon a time, perhaps in the 1980s or 1990s, the 1925-D Mercury Dime could have been easily summated by numismatic market experts or series enthusiasts as a “common” date that certainly has a place in a collection but isn’t necessarily anything all that special. But as time moves along and the scarceness of certain dates becomes more evident through years of further research and grading submissions at PCGS, many coins that were once thought to be wholly common don’t seem to be anymore – certainly not above a certain grade threshold.

And that can be said of the 1925-D Mercury Dime, a coin that saw a respectable mintage of 5,117,000 and is now estimated by PCGS to offer as little as a few thousand surviving examples. How did that happen? As a workhorse coin during the Roaring ‘20s and into the lean times of the Great Depression that followed in the 1930s, a coin like the 1925-D Mercury Dime would have seen extensive wear – servicing commerce to the coin’s own sacrifice into numismatic oblivion. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, drastic increases in the price of silver surely sent scores of 1925-D Mercury Dimes and issues of similar vintage to the smelting pot. As silver bullion again breaks price records in the mid-2020s, more coins just like the 1925-D Mercury Dime are meeting their maker.

Today, a 1925-D Mercury Dime is a $25 coin in F12, while XF40 examples fetch a whopping $125. Mint State examples start above $500. Any 1925-D Mercury Dime earning a FB (Full Bands) grading designation is a conditional rarity, with approximately just 500 survivors in “FB” territory, only 75 of which would grade MS65 or higher. A 1925-D Mercury Dime grading PCGS MS63FB garners around $1,750, while an example grading PCGS MS65FB notches about $5,250.