1987 Dime Coin Value: Errors List, “P”, “D” & “S” Mint Mark Worth

1987 Dime value ranges from $0.10 face value to $1,840. That record was set by a Grade 62 example sold through Heritage Auctions in July 2012. If you want to know what yours is worth, upload a photo of your coin below for a quick value range. You can also scroll down to check recent eBay sales and see what people are actually paying today.

 

 

1987 Dime Value By Variety

Grade, mint mark, and special designations all move the needle on 1987 dime values. If you know your coin’s grade, jump down to the **Value Guides** section for exact pricing.

Also Read: Roosevelt Dime Value (1946-Present)

 

Top 10 Most Valuable 1987 Dime Worth Money

The king of the list is a Philadelphia Full Bands coin graded just MS62. It hammered at $1,840 — and that’s a mid-range Mint State grade. The Full Bands designation did all the heavy lifting. In regular strikes without FB, an MS62 is a pocket-change coin. With FB, it became a four-figure sale.

San Francisco proofs also show up. A PR70 Deep Cameo sold for $978 back in May 2003, when certified populations were tiny. Denver’s best showing is an MS67 Full Bands at $476 in 2018. Across the board, strike quality matters more than the number on the slab for this date.

 

History of the 1987 Dime

The Roosevelt dime launched in 1946 to honor FDR after his death the year before. The dime was chosen because of Roosevelt’s connection to the March of Dimes and the fight against polio. Chief Engraver John R. Sinnock designed the coin — he also created the Franklin half dollar. Sinnock took over as eighth Chief Engraver after George T. Morgan’s death in 1925 and held the post until his own passing on May 14, 1947.

By 1987, the design had been running for over four decades. That October brought Black Monday — the largest single-day percentage crash in stock market history. Despite the chaos, all three mints kept the presses rolling.

Here’s a fun one: San Francisco was simultaneously striking the entire American Silver Eagle run that year alongside the largest-ever batch of Proof Roosevelt Dimes. The facility reportedly burned through 10,000 towels a day just cleaning and polishing proof planchets and dies.

These coins are easy to find today. Value comes down to condition, not scarcity.

Also Read: Top 100 Most Valuable Roosevelt Dimes Worth Money List

 

Is Your 1987 Dime Rare?

Scan your 1987 dime with Coin Identifier and Value App to instantly identify rare varieties and check its current market value.

 

Key Features of the 1987 Dime

Knowing the design details helps you spot fakes and grade accurately. Here’s what to look for on each side.

The Obverse of the 1987 Dime

Roosevelt faces left in Sinnock’s clean, classical style. “LIBERTY” arcs along the left rim in front of his profile. “IN GOD WE TRUST” appears in smaller letters below his chin.

Look at the lower right — that’s where you’ll find the date “1987.” The mint mark sits directly above it: “P” for Philadelphia, “D” for Denver, “S” for San Francisco proofs. Flip the coin to check, but first notice Sinnock’s initials “JS” at the neck truncation.

The Reverse of the 1987 Dime

The central torch represents liberty. An olive branch (peace) flanks it on the left, and an oak branch (strength) on the right. “E PLURIBUS UNUM” is split into four sections between the torch and branches. “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” curves along the top rim. “ONE DIME” sits at the bottom.

This is where you check for Full Bands — look at the horizontal lines across the torch. That’s the money spot.

Other Features of the 1987 Dime

The coin measures 17.90 mm in diameter and weighs 2.27 grams. Its edge has 118 reeds. The composition is copper-nickel clad — outer layers of 75% copper and 25% nickel bonded to a pure copper core. No silver. That ended after 1964 under the Coinage Act of 1965.

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

 

1987 Dime Mintage & Survival Data

Philadelphia cranked out over 762 million dimes. Denver added another 653,203,402. That’s a lot of dimes — picture roughly five coins for every person in the U.S. at the time.

San Francisco struck exactly 4,227,728 proofs: 3,792,233 for standard Proof Sets and 435,495 for Prestige Sets. Here’s the kicker — the 1987-S is actually the highest-mintage Proof Roosevelt Dime ever struck. That’s exactly why certified PR70 DCAM examples have gotten so cheap.

Denver shows a documented 30% survival rate, with nearly 196 million pieces still around. San Francisco proofs survive at an 86.5% rate since collectors tuck them away in original packaging. Philadelphia survival numbers are unknown, but with 1.45 billion struck, millions are still out there.

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

 

The Easy Way to Know Your 1987 Dime Value

Condition drives everything here. Circulated pieces are worth face value. Uncirculated coins can carry premiums based on grade and strike. Check above the date for the mint mark to identify which facility made yours.

Full Bands (FB) on the reverse torch is the big value-adder. PCGS awards it when the horizontal bands are completely separated with no metal bridging. NGC uses a stricter standard called Full Torch (FT), which also requires clear vertical lines. Errors like off-center strikes, clipped planchets, and die cracks can push values above standard pieces too.

Coin Identifier and Value App provides instant grade identification and current market values when you scan your 1987 dime.

 

1987 Dime Value Guides

Three mints, three different animals:

• 1987-P Dime: Struck at Philadelphia
• 1987-D Dime: Produced at Denver
• 1987-S DCAM Dime: San Francisco proof specimens

Philadelphia and Denver made business strikes for everyday spending. San Francisco produced proofs exclusively for collectors.

 

1987-P Dime Value

An MS62 coin selling for $1,840 sounds like a typo. It’s not. That 2012 Heritage sale was for a Full Bands example — and that mid-range grade tells you everything about how scarce FB strikes are on this issue.

Philadelphia struck 1,457,536,000 dimes that year. Over 1.45 billion. Common as dirt through MS67. But at MS68 and above, the population thins out fast. That’s your cherrypicking opportunity if you’re willing to dig through rolls and mint sets.

Full Bands specimens are tough even in lower Mint State grades. High-speed production and worn dies work against sharp strikes. The horizontal bands on the torch just don’t come up clean on most coins. When they do, collectors pay up.

The chart below tracks auction results across different grade levels for this Philadelphia issue.

The table below shows recent market activity for this coin.

Market activity score: 53/100 as of Sep 2026 — unchanged since Jun 2026. Currently at its 12-month peak.

 

1987-D Dime Value

Got a raw 1987-D in a flip and wondering if it’s worth grading? Unless it’s gem quality with killer bands, probably not. Denver struck 653,203,402 pieces, so the coin is everywhere in circulated and lower Mint State grades.

MS68 is where scarcity kicks in. One sold for $121 at Heritage Auctions in March 2004. But the real money is in Full Bands. An MS67 FB hit $476 in 2018. That’s a huge gap over a regular MS67.

I think the Denver FB coins are underappreciated compared to Philly. Fewer people hunt them, but they’re just as hard to find well-struck.

Historical auction data for this Denver issue appears in the chart below.

The table below shows how collector interest in this coin has developed over recent months.

Market activity score: 53/100 as of Sep 2026 — up 3 points from Jun 2026. Currently at its 12-month peak.

 

1987-S DCAM Dime Value

Here’s a perfect PR70 Deep Cameo proof you can buy for the price of lunch. Seriously — $10–$20 as of mid-2025.

Back in May 2003, a PR70 DCAM sold for $978. What happened? Population explosion. The combined PCGS and NGC count of certified PR70 examples ballooned from under 100 in 2003 to over 2,190 by 2025 — growth of more than 2,000%. Prices dropped roughly 90–95% from those early peaks.

Deep Cameo (DCAM) means maximum contrast — deeply mirrored fields and heavily frosted devices. Most 1987-S proofs qualify because the Mint used fresh, polished dies. PCGS has certified 1,623 coins at PR70DCAM as of early 2025. NGC has 520 in PF70UCAM (their equivalent term). Another 14 examples have earned CAC stickers at PR69DCAM.

We think these are a great entry point for new collectors. A perfect-grade proof coin for pocket change? Hard to beat that.

Auction results for this San Francisco proof appear in the chart below.

Transaction patterns for this proof specimen can be found in the following table.

Market activity score: 53/100 as of Sep 2026 — up 16 points from Jun 2026. Currently at its 12-month peak.

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

 

Rare 1987 Dime Error List

With over two billion circulation strikes produced across Philadelphia and Denver — plus millions of San Francisco proofs — plenty of things went wrong on the production line. Here are the errors worth hunting for.

1. Die Crack Errors

Dies crack under repeated strikes. Those fractures leave raised lines or ridges on the finished coin — little metal “veins” running across Roosevelt’s face or the reverse design.

The big prize is a “cud” — a raised blob of metal along the rim where a chunk of the die actually broke away. Smaller cracks show as thin lines connecting letters or running off design elements.

Value depends on size and location. A large cud hitting a major design element can bring $10–$50 or more. Minor hairline cracks add only a few bucks.

2. Clipped Planchet Errors

These happen when the blank disc gets improperly punched from the metal strip. You end up with a coin missing a curved or straight bite along the edge.

Curved clips are more common — they occur when planchets overlap during punching. Straight clips are rarer, caused by the cutter catching the strip’s edge.

Size matters. A tiny 5% clip might fetch $5–$15. A substantial 15–20% clip could bring $30–$75 or higher. Straight clips carry a premium over curved ones because they’re scarcer.

3. Wrong Planchet Errors

This is the jackpot category. A dime design struck on a blank meant for a different denomination — say a cent planchet or quarter planchet — creates an obvious mismatch in size, weight, or color.

It happens when planchets from different denominations get mixed in the feeding system. The coin shows the full dime design but on the wrong metal.

Values start around $100 and can reach $500–$2,000 or more depending on the combination. For context, a 1999-D Roosevelt dime struck on a cent planchet — only two known — sold for $10,000 at auction.

4. Struck-Through Errors

Most guides skip these for 1987, but they’re documented. A struck-through happens when something — cloth, grease, wire, even a detached piece of reeding — lands between the die and planchet during striking.

A notable example: a 1987-P Roosevelt Dime “Struck Through Detached Reeding” certified by PCGS at MS-67 passed through GreatCollections. The foreign object leaves a sunken impression and missing detail in the affected area.

Minor grease-filled dies add only a few dollars. Dramatic struck-throughs with larger objects can bring $50–$200 or more depending on grade and visibility.

5. Doubled Die Errors (DDO / DDR)

DDO (doubled die obverse) and DDR (doubled die reverse) happen during die-making when the hub strikes the working die more than once with slight misalignment. You get visible doubling on letters, numbers, or design elements.

Strong doubled dies on 1987 dimes are scarce but not impossible. Grab a 10x loupe and check “LIBERTY,” “IN GOD WE TRUST,” and the date for any splitting or shelf-like doubling. A 1967 Roosevelt Dime DDO in AU-53 sold for $600, showing what well-documented doubled dies can bring even on common dates.

Watch out for machine doubling — it’s common on 1987 dimes but adds almost nothing. Only true hub doubling commands real premiums. The difference? Hub doubling shows shelf-like raised edges. Machine doubling looks flat and mushy.

 

Where to Sell Your 1987 Dime?

Determining what your 1987 dimes are worth is just part of the equation. Finding trustworthy platforms to sell them matters equally. I’ve put together a comprehensive resource covering the top online marketplaces, detailing their features, pros, and cons.

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

 

1987 Dime Market Trend

Market interest: 2,960 collectors tracking this coin as of Sep 2026 — up 900 from Mar 2026. Currently at its 12-month peak.

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

 

FAQ about the 1987 Dime

1. What does “Full Bands” mean on a 1987 dime?

Flip your dime over and look at the torch. Full Bands (FB) means the horizontal lines across it are completely separated — you can see a clear gap between the upper and lower band pairs with no metal bridging.

Most 1987 dimes show weak or mushy bands from worn dies or soft strikes. PCGS calls it “Full Bands” (FB); NGC uses the stricter “Full Torch” (FT), which also requires defined vertical lines. The price difference is dramatic: a standard 1987-D in MS67 sells for modest money, while an MS67 Full Bands can reach $476.

2. Why are some 1987 dimes worth more than face value?

Grade and strike quality. Circulated pieces in Good or Fine condition trade near face value at $0.23–$0.78. Better preservation means higher prices. Full Bands designation is the biggest value driver since well-struck examples are scarce. Errors like off-center strikes, clipped planchets, and die cracks also carry premiums. San Francisco DCAM proofs trade around $6.44 currently.

3. Are 1987 dimes rare or common?

Common. Very common. Philadelphia alone struck over 1.45 billion, and Denver added over 653 million. You’ll find them in pocket change and bank rolls without trying.

Real scarcity only exists at top Mint State grades with Full Bands. San Francisco proofs were struck in the largest mintage of any Proof Roosevelt Dime ever — 4,227,728 pieces — so raw examples are plentiful. Certified PR70 DCAM coins are more affordable than most people expect.

4. What is a Deep Cameo (DCAM) proof and how does it affect the 1987-S dime’s value?

Deep Cameo (DCAM at PCGS, Ultra Cameo / UCAM at NGC) is the top contrast grade for proofs. The flat fields are deeply mirrored, the raised devices are heavily frosted — bold black-and-white contrast when you tilt the coin.

Nearly all 1987-S proofs come DCAM because the Mint used fresh, polished dies. The record sale was $978 in May 2003 for a PR70 DCAM. By mid-2025, those same coins sell for $10–$20 thanks to massive population growth — PCGS alone has certified 1,623 examples at PR70DCAM.

5. How has the 1987-S proof dime population changed over time and what does that mean for value?

This is one of the most dramatic price collapses in modern coins. When fewer than 100 PR70 DCAM examples were certified in the early 2000s, they sold for over $200 (and up to $978 for the top coin). As more collectors cracked open proof sets and submitted them, the combined PCGS and NGC PR70 population swelled to over 2,190 by 2025.

That 20-fold supply increase crushed prices by roughly 90–95%. Today you can grab a perfect PR70 DCAM 1987-S dime for about the cost of a burger. Great starting point for proof set collectors.

6. Is there a 1987 dime struck on a silver planchet?

No. None confirmed. The Mint stopped making 90% silver dimes for circulation after 1964 under the Coinage Act of 1965. All 1987 dimes — including San Francisco proofs — are copper-nickel clad with zero silver content.

Any 1987 dime sold as “silver” is either fake, privately plated (worth face value), or confused with the 1992-S Silver Proof Roosevelt Dime series. The silver proof program didn’t exist in 1987.

7. What is the difference between a 1987 Proof Set dime and a 1987 Prestige Proof Set dime?

The coins are identical. Same dies, same specs, same mint. The only difference is packaging. The standard 1987 Proof Set had five coins and sold for $11. The Prestige Proof Set came in a premium display booklet, included the 1987 Constitution Bicentennial Commemorative Silver Dollar, and sold for $45.

Of the 4,227,728 total proof dimes struck, 3,792,233 went into standard sets and 435,495 into Prestige Sets. Once out of the holder, you can’t tell them apart.

8. Can a 1987 dime have a repunched mint mark (RPM)?

Yes, it’s possible. Through 1989, mint marks were hand-punched onto individual working dies. If the first punch was off, a second strike created a visible RPM. The 1987 dime falls right in that final window before the Mint started placing mint marks on the master hub die.

RPMs on this date aren’t widely catalogued, but they can exist. Check the “P” or “D” under strong magnification — you might spot traces of a second impression.

9. How do I tell if my 1987-P dime Full Bands is genuine versus just a well-worn coin?

Use a 10x loupe under good lighting and examine the reverse torch. Genuine Full Bands coins show a clear, continuous gap between the upper and lower horizontal bands with no metal bridging. The lines should be crisp and sharp.

Cleaned or polished coins can look sharp at first glance but show tiny parallel scratches under magnification. Only coins with original mint luster and no cleaning will qualify for professional FB certification from PCGS or NGC. If you think you have an MS62+ Full Bands example, getting it slabbed is worth the submission fee — the top auction record for this designation is $1,840.

10. What 1987 dime errors are most commonly found by everyday searchers?

Die cracks and small clipped planchets turn up most often in roll searching. Die cracks show as thin raised lines and are easy to spot with a magnifying glass, though minor ones only add a few dollars. Clipped planchets — where a curved or straight piece of the rim is missing — pop up with some regularity and can be worth $5–$75 depending on size.

Off-center strikes are more dramatic but harder to find. Wrong planchet and struck-through errors are the rarest and most valuable. They do surface occasionally in dealer lots, estate sales, and online auctions, so the hunt is worth your time if you’re patient.