1904 Dime Coin Value: Errors List, “S” & No Mint Mark Worth

1904 Dime value ranges from $0.10 face value to $11,163. That record was a Grade 66 example sold through Heritage Auctions in June 2014. If you’re curious what yours could fetch, upload a photo of your coin below for a quick value range. Scroll down to see recent eBay sales and what buyers are paying today.

 

1904 Dime Value By Variety

Two mints struck dimes in 1904 — Philadelphia and San Francisco. New Orleans sat this one out, and Denver wouldn’t start making dimes until 1906.

If you know the grade of your coin, you can find the exact price below in the Value Guides section.

Also Read: Top 100 Rarest Dimes Worth Money (Most Expensive)

 

Top 10 Most Valuable 1904 Dime Worth Money

No surprise here — the 1904-S owns the top of this list. San Francisco struck fewer than 800,000 dimes that year, a tiny fraction of what Philadelphia pumped out. Low production over a century ago means very few coins chasing a lot of collectors today.

The price gap between a circulated 1904-S and a gem Mint State piece is massive. A single grade point near the top of the scale can mean thousands of dollars, which is why getting these slabbed by PCGS or NGC matters so much. The finest-known 1904 Proof at PR-68 brought $8,225 — a testament to how few survived in pristine shape after 120 years.

 

History of the 1904 Dime Value Series

The 1904 dime belongs to the Barber Coinage series, struck from 1892 to 1916. Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber designed the dime, quarter, and half dollar — all sharing the same obverse portrait of Lady Liberty.

How did Barber get the job? Mint Director Edward O. Leech tried a public competition in 1891, but invited artists balked at a winner-take-all prize, and no public submission made the cut. So Leech handed the project to his own engraver. Barber drew on French medals and classical sculpture — not going for flashy, but building a design tough enough to survive millions of strikes.

By 1904, these coins had been in pockets for twelve years. The Wright Brothers had just flown at Kitty Hawk, and President Theodore Roosevelt was already scheming to overhaul the entire coinage. The series finally ended in 1916, replaced by Weinman’s Mercury dime.

Also Read: Top 100 Most Valuable Roosevelt Dimes Worth Money List (Year Chart)

 

Is Your 1904 Dime Value Coin Actually Rare?

Whether your 1904 dime qualifies as “rare” depends on details most people walk right past. The 1904-S carries a semi-key date designation from Greysheet/CDN, meaning it pulls a premium in every grade — not just at the top. The Philadelphia issue? Common in lower grades, but try finding one above MS-65. That’s a completely different kind of rare. Pull out the Coin Identifier and Value App and take a closer look at yours.

 

Key Features of the 1904 Dime Value Coin

Knowing what to look for on a 1904 dime sharpens your eye for cherrypicking high-quality pieces. Strike quality and surface preservation can mean the difference between a $20 coin and a $2,000 one.

The Obverse of the 1904 Dime

Liberty faces right, her hair pulled back into a Phrygian cap topped with a laurel wreath. Look above her forehead — you’ll see LIBERTY inscribed on a small headband. That headband is everything when it comes to grading, but more on that below.

Barber pulled this portrait from French coins and classical sculpture. He wasn’t chasing artistic breakthroughs. He needed a design that could hold up through millions of strikes and decades of pocket wear. The same obverse appears on the Barber quarter and half dollar.

The Reverse of the 1904 Dime

Flip it over. A wreath of corn, oak, maple leaves, and wheat frames ONE DIME at the center. Notice what’s missing — “IN GOD WE TRUST” doesn’t appear here, even though it’s on the Barber quarter and half dollar. The dime was simply too small to fit it. The peripheral stars from those larger denominations are absent too.

For coins struck outside Philadelphia, look just below the wreath’s bow for the mint mark. A small “S” there on a 1904 dime makes a huge difference in your wallet.

Other Features of the 1904 Dime

The coin is 90% silver and 10% copper, weighing 2.5 grams with a reeded edge. That works out to about 0.07234 troy ounces of pure silver, so melt value tracks the current spot price.

Here’s the grading trick every Barber collector learns fast: the word “LIBERTY” on that headband is the first thing to vanish with wear. Just a few years in circulation and it starts going. A coin with full LIBERTY is worth multiples of one without it.

One more thing — a lot of Barber dimes got cleaned back in the mid-20th century when people didn’t know better. Original, uncleaned examples with natural luster carry serious premiums over coins that have been polished or dipped.

Also Read: Top 70+ Most Valuable Mercury Dimes Worth Money (Chart By Year)

 

1904 Dime Value: Mintage & Survival Data

Philadelphia struck over 14.6 million dimes in 1904. Only about 35,000 survive today. That’s roughly one out of every 417 coins making it through — decades of heavy commercial use wiped out the rest.

The 1904-S tells a tougher story. From 800,000 struck, roughly 4,000 remain. PCGS CoinFacts says the typical uncirculated 1904-S grades MS-62 to MS-64. Gems at MS-65 and MS-66 are genuinely scarce. The two finest known — from the legendary Eliasberg Collection and the Bob R. Simpson Collection — both sit in PCGS MS-66+ holders.

Proofs are a different world. With 670 struck and about 600 still accounted for, that’s nearly a 90% survival rate. These were never meant for pocket change — they were collected, stored, and handed down with care.

Also Read: Roosevelt Dime Coin Value (1946-Present)

 

The Easy Way to Know Your 1904 Dime Value

Figuring out your 1904 dime’s value comes down to three things: mint mark, grade, and whether the surfaces are original.

Start on the reverse — find the mint mark. Then check the headband for LIBERTY. That single word tells you more about grade than almost anything else on the coin. Tilt it under a light to look for signs of cleaning, toning, or weak strike areas.

For a fast, reliable read, run it through the Coin Identifier and Value App — it takes the guesswork out of grading. Once you know what you’ve got, the value chart above does the rest.

 

1904 Dime Value Guides

The 1904 Barber dime came in four varieties. Knowing which one you have is the first step — the spread between a worn Philly strike and a preserved Proof can be thousands of dollars.

• • 1904 No Mint Mark Dime – struck at Philadelphia, the highest-mintage variety of the year with over 14.6 million produced
  • 1904-S Dime – produced at San Francisco with a semi-key date mintage of just 800,000 pieces; gems are very scarce
  • 1904 Proof Dime – a specially struck collector’s issue from Philadelphia, with only 670 produced
  • 1904 CAM Dime – the Cameo proof variant, prized for its frosted devices against mirror-like fields; only the earliest impressions from a fresh die pair qualify

 

1904 No Mint Mark Dime Value

Most 1904 Philadelphia dimes you’ll encounter are well-struck — no surprise from the main mint. But PCGS CoinFacts notes that some dies got pushed past their useful life. Coins from those tired dies show mushiness on Liberty’s upper lip and soft reverse lettering.

Here’s what catches people off guard: this coin looks common until you get above MS-65. The word “LIBERTY” on the headband — your key to grading Fine (F-12), Very Fine (VF-20), and Extremely Fine (XF-40) — wears away after just a few years of use. Coins in XF are far scarcer than total mintage numbers suggest.

The best Philly 1904 dimes top out at MS-67. At MS-66, a CAC-approved piece sold for $1,545.50 at GreatCollections on January 14, 2024. The all-time record for this variety is $5,980 — a PCGS MS-66 through Heritage Auctions in September 2003.

In circulated grades, expect around $6.25 in Good (G-4), $15 in Very Fine (VF-20), and $32 in Extremely Fine (XF-40). Uncirculated pieces start around $145 at MS-60 and climb to about $210 at MS-63.

Gathered here is the full sweep of auction outcomes that have defined what the market will bear for the 1904 No Mint Mark Dime.

This chart shows the market activity trends for the 1904 No Mint Mark Dime over time.

Market activity score: 66/100 as of Oct 2026 — up 21 points from Jul 2026. 12-month peak: 72 (Sep 2026).

 

1904-S Dime Value

Think you can skip the 1904-S when building a Barber dime set? Think again. This is an official semi-key date, and with a mintage under one million, it’s scarce across the board — tougher than the earlier 1903-S at higher grade levels.

San Francisco strikes from this era are notorious for weak or incomplete detail. You can have a technically high-grade coin that still looks soft. That’s why well-struck 1904-S dimes pull meaningful premiums — sharpness matters as much as grade here.

PCGS CoinFacts puts the typical uncirculated 1904-S at MS-62 to MS-64. At MS-65 and MS-66, only small numbers have been certified. The two finest known — from the Eliasberg Collection and the Bob R. Simpson Collection — are both in PCGS MS-66+ holders.

The prices tell the story: $494 at AU-50, $2,960 at MS-64, $5,780 at MS-66, and up to $19,500 at MS-67. Top-condition pieces can stretch to $20,000.

Below is a historical overview of how the 1904-S Dime has fared each time it has crossed the auction block.

The ebb and flow of collector demand for the 1904-S Dime is reflected in the trading patterns displayed here.

Market activity score: 63/100 as of Oct 2026 — up 17 points from Jul 2026. 12-month peak: 70 (Sep 2026).

 

1904 Proof Dime Value

Only 670 of these were made. The Philadelphia Mint struck them using specially polished dies and planchets, producing mirror-like fields and frosted devices that look nothing like a regular-issue coin.

Like the business strikes, the Proof dime omits “IN GOD WE TRUST” — the coin was simply too small to fit it. The peripheral stars from the quarter and half dollar are absent too.

Proof Barber dimes exist for nearly every year from 1892 through 1915, most with mintages between 600 and 800 pieces. They’re popular with classic type collectors and anyone building a complete proof Barber set. I think they’re one of the more underappreciated entry points into classic U.S. proof coinage.

The finest known 1904 Proof hit $8,225 at PR-68 through Heritage Auctions on May 12, 2015. If you want in at a more accessible level, PR-63 examples typically run around $490.

This chart captures how the 1904 Proof Dime has performed at auction over the years.

Mapped out below is the broader market movement that has surrounded the 1904 Proof Dime across different collecting cycles.

Market activity score: 64/100 as of Oct 2026 — up 19 points from Jul 2026. 12-month peak: 69 (Aug 2026).

 

1904 CAM Dime Value

Ever wonder why some proofs have that dramatic frosted-over-mirror look and others don’t? It all comes down to die life.

Proof dies were chemically etched or sandblasted to frost the raised design elements, while the flat fields were polished mirror-smooth. That contrast — frosted devices against glassy fields — is the Cameo effect. But here’s the catch: only about the first hundred strikes from a fresh die pair show true cameo contrast. After that, friction from repeated striking wears the frosting away, and everything goes uniformly brilliant.

Both sides of the coin must show the contrast to earn a CAM designation from PCGS or NGC. If one side falls short, no designation. Within the Barber dime series, Cameo and Deep Cameo proofs are scarce and regularly trade at four-figure prices. We think the 1904 CAM is one of the more visually striking pieces in the entire Barber proof run — it represents the die at its absolute freshest.

Presented here is a look at the bidding history that has shaped the 1904 CAM Dime’s market presence.

The data here sheds light on how buying and selling momentum for the 1904 CAM Dime has shifted over the years.

Market activity score: 43/100 as of Oct 2026 — unchanged since Jul 2026. 12-month peak: 54 (Dec 2025).

Also Read: 16 Rare Dime Errors List with Pictures (By Year)

 

Rare 1904 Dime Value Error List

Even well-made coins have the occasional production hiccup — and the 1904 Barber dime is no exception. Error coins in this series can pull solid premiums, especially when they show up on the already-scarce 1904-S.

1. Die Clash Error

A die clash happens when the obverse and reverse dies smack into each other with no planchet between them. Each die picks up a ghost impression of the opposite side. On the 1904 dime, you’ll typically see faint outlines of the reverse wreath in the obverse fields, or traces of Liberty’s portrait showing up on the reverse.

How visible the clash marks are — and the coin’s overall condition — drive the premium. A 1904-S graded MS-64 with a confirmed die clash sold for $675 at auction in 2014. That’s a nice bump over a standard example at the same grade.

2. Repunched Date (RPD)

This happens when the date gets stamped into the die more than once, leaving visible doubling on the numerals. On the 1904 dime, look closely at the “1” and “9” — that’s where doubling shows up most clearly.

These are die-level varieties, not random accidents, which gives them structured appeal among variety specialists. One documented example, catalogued as RPD-L101 and graded PCGS MS-63, shows clear repunching on the “0” in the date. A 1904 no-mintmark RPD graded MS-62 brought $580 at Heritage Auctions in 2008. The key to top premiums? Finding a problem-free coin with doubling you can spot without a loupe.

3. Struck-Through Error

When debris — grease, cloth fiber, a metal fragment — gets trapped between the die and planchet during striking, you get a blank spot or distorted area where the design didn’t fully transfer.

Minor grease fill-ins are common and add modest premiums. Dramatic struck-through errors with clearly defined impressions are a different story. A 1904-S graded MS-60 with a struck-through error sold for $950 at Heritage Auctions in 2018. Production anomalies on an already scarce San Francisco issue push values well past standard pricing.

 

Where to Sell Your 1904 Dime?

Now that you’ve determined your coin’s worth, are you wondering about the best online platforms to sell it? I’ve got you covered with a comprehensive guide to these websites, complete with detailed descriptions, advantages, and drawbacks.

Check out now: Best Places To Sell Coins Online (Pros & Cons)

 

1904 Dime Value Market Trend

Market interest: 2,810 collectors tracking this coin as of Oct 2026 — up 1,000 from Mar 2026. 12-month peak: 2,840 (Jan 2026).

*Market Trend Chart showing the number of people paying attention to this coin.

 

FAQ About 1904 Dime Value

1. How do I know if my 1904 dime is a Proof or just a well-preserved regular strike?

Look at the fields. Proof coins have mirror-like surfaces that reflect like glass, with sharper device detail than any business strike can match. If the devices also appear frosted, you’re almost certainly looking at a Proof. When in doubt, send it to PCGS or NGC — a Proof designation comes in a numbered holder that settles the question permanently.

2. Why does the “LIBERTY” headband matter so much when grading this coin?

On Barber dimes, those headband letters are the first thing to wear off — sometimes after just a few years in circulation. A coin with full LIBERTY is far scarcer than survival numbers suggest and commands much higher prices at Fine (F-12) and Extremely Fine (XF-40). If LIBERTY is completely gone, you’re looking at a Good (G-4) coin no matter how sharp the portrait appears.

3. What makes the 1904 CAM rarer than the standard 1904 Proof?

Cameo contrast only appears on roughly the first 100 strikes from a fresh die pair. After that, friction wears away the frosting and the whole coin goes uniformly brilliant. Both sides must show the contrast to earn the CAM designation — if one side falls short, no dice.

4. Is the 1904 Philadelphia dime worth collecting if it’s in circulated condition?

Absolutely — especially if you’re building a complete Barber set. Circulated Philly examples are affordable and generally well-struck compared to branch mint issues. Just make sure LIBERTY is at least partially readable. Heavily worn examples carry minimal numismatic value beyond their silver melt content (approximately $5.53 at current spot prices).

5. Why do San Francisco 1904 dimes tend to have weaker strikes than Philadelphia examples?

Branch mints like San Francisco often ran dies harder and didn’t maintain them to Philly’s standards. Striking pressure could be inconsistent too. For the 1904-S, finding a sharp example with full detail is genuinely tough — which is exactly why well-struck survivors pull strong premiums even in mid-range grades like MS-63 and MS-64.

6. Is the 1904-S dime considered a key date?

The 1904-S is officially classified as a semi-key date in the Barber dime series by Greysheet/CDN, meaning it commands premiums across all grades — not only in Mint State. It has one of the lowest mintages of any 20th-century Barber dime at just 800,000 pieces. True key dates in the Barber series are rarer coins like the 1895-O (440,000 mintage) and the legendary 1894-S (just 24 struck), but the 1904-S is a significant obstacle for any collector building a complete set.

7. What is the silver melt value of a 1904 Barber dime?

Each 1904 Barber dime contains 0.07234 troy ounces of pure silver (the coin is 90% silver and 10% copper, weighing 2.5 grams total). At a silver spot price of approximately $76 per troy ounce, the melt value is roughly $5.50. Even heavily worn examples in Good condition are worth more than melt, typically around $6.25. The 1904-S in Good condition is worth around $40 — far above its bullion floor.

8. How do auction records affect the 1904 Dime value I can expect when selling?

Auction records represent ceiling prices — the best coin, best presentation, most competitive bidding room. A Heritage Auctions MS-66 record of $5,980 (2003) doesn’t mean every MS-66 will hit that number today. CAC (Certified Acceptance Corporation) approval — a green or gold sticker from an independent review — can meaningfully boost realized prices, as shown by the CAC-approved MS-66 that sold for $1,545 at GreatCollections in January 2024.

9. What should I watch out for when buying a 1904-S Barber dime?

Three red flags. First, check for cleaning — artificially bright, harsh surfaces mean the coin’s been polished, and that kills value. Second, watch for weak strikes. Many 1904-S coins look high-grade but lack detail in the headband and wreath. A well-struck example commands a premium. Third, at this price level, buy only slabbed coins in PCGS or NGC holders. Problem coins get passed off to inexperienced buyers way too easily when they’re raw.

10. Can 1904 Barber dimes still be found in old coin rolls or family collections?

They can. The Philadelphia issue’s 14.6 million mintage means well-worn survivors still turn up in estate sales and inherited collections. The 1904-S is a different story — with 800,000 struck and semi-key status, it’s been actively collected and pulled from circulation for generations. You’re unlikely to find one outside a dedicated coin collection.