1940 S Mercury Dime

In 1940 the San Francisco Mint tallied its highest mintage of dimes since 1917, but all such records would soon be broken once America entered the war the following year. 1940-S dimes typically display excellent luster that is sometimes semi-prooflike as a consequence of aggressive die-polishing to remove erosion lines and/or clash marks. Very few of these coins are uniformly brilliant throughout, so the PL designation remains quite rare. Also quite scarce as a percentage of overall survivorship are coins displaying Full Bands. This will remain true for S-Mint dimes through the end of this series. The Wexler/Flynn book illustrates numerous DDO and DDR varieties, most of them quite minor. Several RPM varieties are known, as well, and the better of these are recognized by NGC.