10-year-old finds rare silver dime in burned house, sells for over $15,000

A rare minting error has fetched a significant price at auction, drawing attention to the world of coin collecting. A 1970-D Roosevelt dime, discovered by a 10-year-old girl in the remnants of a burned house in Oregon, sold for more than $15,000 on June 16.

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The numismatic market once again focused on minting errors after the sale of a 1970-D Roosevelt dime that reached a price of more than US$15,000 at an auction held on June 16.

The coin's value stems from its unusual composition: it was minted on a silver planchet. Since 1965, dimes intended for circulation have been made from a copper-nickel alloy, not silver. This particular dime, however, was accidentally struck on a silver disc, likely a leftover from an earlier production run that found its way into the Denver Mint's manufacturing system.

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The coin found by a ten-year-old girl in a burned house caught the attention of collectors because it was produced on a silver planchet, a material that should no longer have been used at that time.

Stacks Bowers, the auction house, confirmed the coin's weight of 2.5 grams matched that of older silver dimes. After years of family investigation and metallurgical testing, the coin was authenticated by Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC) as a "wrong planchet" error. This type of error is particularly sought after by collectors due to its rarity.

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This piece from 1970 appeared to be composed of silver, even though the United States Mint had stopped using that metal in this type of issue years before.

This unique piece, which has been out of circulation for decades, was presented at public auction for the first time. Its sale underscores the enduring fascination with numismatics and the potential for ordinary objects to hold extraordinary value.

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From that moment on, a family investigation began to determine if the piece corresponded to a minting error.