1968-D

The 1968-D Roosevelt Dime came out of the Denver Mint at 424,470,400 pieces, a healthy production figure that placed it just behind the Philadelphia output for the year and made it one of the most plentiful dimes of the late 1960s. Denver had carried the lion's share of clad dime production since the 1965 transition, and 1968 fit comfortably into that pattern. The D mintmark sits just above the date on the obverse, a placement that had been standardized in 1968 and would continue throughout the rest of the series. With no S-mint dimes struck for circulation and Philadelphia and Denver carrying the load together, this issue is a textbook representative of the early clad era's everyday coinage.

Authentication of a 1968-D rests on routine clad-era specifications: 2.268 grams in weight, 17.91 millimeters across, and a reeded edge of consistent count. The copper-nickel outer layers, bonded to a pure copper core, produce the familiar reddish stripe along the rim when the edge is examined under glass. Strike quality on Denver coins of this period tends toward soft, particularly across the torch on the reverse, so the Full Bands (FB) designation is the single most important diagnostic for premium examples. Look for both horizontal bands on the torch to be fully separated and crisp; partial separation does not qualify. The mintmark itself was hand-punched into the working dies during this period, so minor variations in the D's positioning and tilt are entirely normal and not a fraud signal on their own.

Like its Philadelphia sister, the 1968-D survived in roll quantities and trades at face value through the lower Mint State grades. Premium attaches at the top of the scale, where MS67FB examples are scarce enough to bring real money and MS68FB pieces command serious bids when they appear. The narrative for collectors here is condition rarity, not survival, and the clad-era hunt centers on finding a fully struck coin with clean cheek and torch. For context on how Denver shaped the clad-era series, see the Roosevelt Dime series history.