1997 Dime Error List with Pictures
One 1997-P dime went through the press twice; another eventually received a Lincoln cent design over Roosevelt. These mistakes leave different clues, even when both coins look crowded with extra detail.
The documented double strike sold for $138. The 1997 Roosevelt Dime errors below have estimated ranges spanning $5–$3,500, including separate silver-Proof and unusual-metal examples.
Keep reading to see how the design sequence, edge, and weight help identify each type.
1. 1997 Roosevelt Dime Raised Tool Crack
A fine line rising above the surface can come from a crack in the steel stamping tool. Coin metal enters the opening during striking and leaves a narrow raised trace.
Die crack is the collecting term for this feature. It does not mean the finished dime itself has split along that line.
The 1997 report does not identify a mint or one required path. A line must therefore be judged on its own shape and surface.
Scratches usually cut down into the coin. Polishing marks or reflections can also appear as lines without representing a cracked tool.
Estimated Value
Estimate $5–$100 for a small genuine 1997 tool crack, depending on visibility and condition. The range uses minor modern Roosevelt cracks as a guide.
No specific auction result is assigned to the general 1997 report. A faint line with little visual appeal may bring only a modest premium.
The estimate does not assume a large piece of the tool broke away. A broad raised rim patch would need a different comparison from the thin line described here.
How to Identify
Use light from a low angle to determine whether the line rises above the surrounding surface. Examine it with a 10× magnifier rather than deciding from one bright photograph.
Follow the line across nearby letters or background, looking for metal struck into one continuous raised trace. A cut with displaced metal along its sides points toward a later scratch.
Check the date and mint on the actual coin; the report does not supply a mint identity. A loose ordinary dime should be near 2.268 grams and 17.91 millimeters on a scale and calipers.
Inspect the grooves around the edge for damage. The practical starting test is a raised line that belongs to the original struck surface.
2. 1997 Roosevelt Dime Design Blocked by Material
A patch of weak or missing detail can form when material fills part of a stamping tool. The filled area cannot transfer the normal design to the coin.
The seller’s 1997-P report calls this a grease strike and also notes a partial collar. Grease is a proposed blocking material, not something proved by weak letters alone.
The report does not identify the exact affected area. A surface comparison must establish which details were blocked and how the edge formed.
Wear and a generally weak strike can produce similar softness. Those explanations need to be separated from a local obstruction.
Estimated Value
For a genuine local blocked-design error, estimate $10–$150, depending on the area affected and its clarity. This is a working comparison with minor modern Roosevelt striking errors.
The seller’s grease description is not a verified sale or an independent identification of the material. The range applies to original interruption of the design.
If the same coin also has a partial-collar step, compare the complete combination once. Adding two maximum prices can overstate the value of a modest example.
How to Identify
Compare weak areas with equally high details elsewhere on the coin. Wear tends to affect exposed high points more broadly, while blocked design can form a more localized patch.
A 10× magnifier can help locate the boundary between normal and missing detail. Do not name the substance grease solely from a smooth-looking hollow.
For the separately reported collar effect, inspect the edge for a real step between grooved and expanded portions. Record a loose coin’s weight and width with a scale and calipers against 2.268 grams and 17.91 millimeters.
Check both faces for scratches or chemical damage before assigning a Mint cause. The useful comparison is interrupted design within an otherwise well-preserved area, not general softness.
3. 1997 Roosevelt Dime Strike Through a Coin Covering the Tool
A design can become weak and spread out when a stuck coin covers the stamping tool. That covering coin is called a die cap.
As more coins are struck beneath it, the cap becomes thinner and changes the details reaching later coins. The recorded 1997-P dime was struck through a cap at this late stage.
ANACS graded the receiving dime MS60, meaning unworn but potentially heavily marked. The receiving coin is not itself identified as the cup-shaped cap.
The affected face must be established from the coin. A generally worn portrait alone does not demonstrate this press accident.
Estimated Value
The recorded ANACS MS60 dime sold for $49 in October 2022. Estimate $30–$300 for comparable genuine coins struck through a late-stage cap.
The range reflects the strength of the altered design and preservation. It is not a price for the cap that remained attached to the tool.
Stronger impressions can be easier to recognize than faintly weakened details. Compare the complete affected face and the opposite design, since wear or an ordinary weak strike can look similar in photographs.
How to Identify
Put the two faces beside one another in photographs and compare their level of detail. A covering coin can interfere with one tool while the opposite tool still strikes normally.
Use a 10× magnifier to examine the softened or spread-out image rather than assuming which face was affected. Match the complete pattern to the graded example, not just a single weak letter.
On a loose ordinary dime, a scale and calipers can check the usual 2.268 grams and 17.91 millimeters. Examine the grooved edge for crushing that would explain later flattening.
The receiving coin need not have a deep cup shape. Its altered struck design, alongside the better-defined opposite face, is the important comparison.
4. 1997 Roosevelt Dime Straight and Elliptical Clips
A straight shortage can leave one side of the coin cut short, while another incomplete blank can produce an oval-looking coin. Both forms are reported for 1997-D dimes.
The dealer’s straight end clip extends around the side between roughly seven-thirty and ten-thirty. A separate elliptical example was graded PCGS MS65.
The metal was incomplete before the design was stamped. The straight-edged and elliptical shapes belong to different coins.
Neither should be identified only from its outline. Cutting or grinding a finished dime can imitate missing blank metal, but the rim and nearby design reveal important differences.
Estimated Value
Estimate $25–$400 across genuine straight and elliptical clips, allowing for shape, condition, and readable identification. These are comparison-based prices rather than auction amounts for the two listed Denver coins.
A 1997-P nickel with a twenty-percent clip sold for $124 in March 2025. That separate denomination offers context for an obvious missing-metal error.
The elliptical dime should be compared with similarly shaped examples. A small straight shortage does not automatically share the value of a more dramatic oval blank.
How to Identify
The Denver straight end clip affects the side between about seven-thirty and ten-thirty, while the elliptical example has an oval outline. Choose the correct shape before comparing its details with photographs of another coin.
Weigh a loose example against 2.268 grams and use calipers across intact spans against 17.91 millimeters, avoiding measurements through the shortage. A 10× magnifier can reveal lettering and rim ends formed around missing metal rather than sliced through after striking.
Inspect the remaining grooved edge for filing, then compare both faces of the elliptical example to see how its design filled the disk. Natural struck surfaces around the shortage matter more than a similar outline created by cutting a finished coin.
5. 1997 Roosevelt Dime Expanded Strike with an Indent
An expanded coin can also carry a hollow where another blank blocked part of its design. A recorded 1997-P dime combines both effects.
The broadstrike means the edge spread beyond its normal restraint. The indent is the depression made by the intervening blank.
The auction description places that blank over the lower-left front, leaving the covered area without normal detail. ANACS graded the coin MS64, an unworn grade with visible marks allowed.
The final date digit and P helped identify it. A separate partial-collar-and-indent report should not automatically inherit this coin’s location or measurements.
Estimated Value
The broadstruck and indented MS64 example sold for $58 in January 2003. Estimate $30–$500 across genuine expanded strikes and clear indent combinations.
That price covers one complete coin with both effects. It is not a separate amount for the wide edge and another amount for the depression.
A plain broadstrike or the separately reported partial-collar combination needs its own comparison. Condition and the impression’s visibility matter more than counting the labels on a holder.
How to Identify
Begin at the lower-left front on the documented MS64 example and follow the boundary of its depression. The blank blocked the design there, so a smooth hollow need not contain backward letters.
Next, inspect the expanded outline with calipers against the normal 17.91-millimeter diameter. A scale can compare a loose coin with 2.268 grams, since neither spreading nor an indent necessarily removes metal.
Under a 10× magnifier, inspect the grooved edge and the depression for later squeezing or impact marks. Use surviving date details and the P to compare identity.
Do not transfer this location to every indented dime. The original broad edge and a struck depression must both fit the specific coin being examined.
6. 1997 Roosevelt Dime Off-Center Strike
The design can land far from the middle of a dime blank, leaving a bare crescent beside incomplete lettering. This is an off-center strike.
One dealer catalog describes a 1997-P dime thirty-five percent off center toward one o’clock. A separate PCGS MS62 auction example is listed as sixty percent off center in that direction.
These percentages identify different coins. They should not be averaged or treated as two measurements of the same piece.
Both faces need to fit the same misplaced disk. The one-o’clock direction also needs a consistent upright reference when comparing photographs.
Estimated Value
Estimate $40–$500 for genuine dated 1997-P off-center dimes in different conditions. A readable date and mint can be more useful than a very large bare area alone.
A 1977 dime struck ten percent off center sold for $109 in June 2026. That is a different-year comparison, not a sale assigned to either listed 1997 example.
Compare the thirty-five-percent and sixty-percent coins separately. Loss of important identification or heavy surface damage can reduce the appeal of a larger shift.
How to Identify
Orient the portrait upright before comparing the reported one-o’clock direction, then inspect where the struck design ends. The second face should show a matching division between stamped and untouched metal.
Read the remaining date and P with a 10× magnifier, checking the bare area for traces of letters ground away later. A genuine off-center strike never formed those missing details on that part of the disk.
A loose example can retain close to 2.268 grams because the metal was displaced, not necessarily removed. Use a scale and calipers to record its weight and altered outline against 17.91 millimeters.
Inspect the edge grooves for damage. The direct comparison is the same missing-design boundary on both faces, with the stated direction measured from an upright design.
7. 1997 Roosevelt Dime Partial Collar on Silver Proof and Ordinary Coins
Even a carefully made collector coin can develop an edge step. The documented 1997-S silver Proof has a twenty-five-percent partial-collar description.
A collar is the ring that restrains the blank and forms its edge grooves during striking. Partial contact lets one area spread differently from another.
The silver coin was graded PCGS PR69 Deep Cameo, describing near-perfect Proof surfaces with strong contrast. It contains ninety-percent silver, unlike an ordinary layered-metal dime.
A Philadelphia ordinary-strike report also combines partial collar and an indent. Its depression and its metal should not be borrowed to describe the San Francisco Proof.
Estimated Value
Estimate $100–$750 for a comparable silver Proof partial-collar error. For ordinary Philadelphia examples, use $20–$300, adjusting for any genuine indent and overall condition.
These are separate finish-based estimates, not completed sale prices for the cited reports. The silver Proof’s auction preview bid was only an interim amount.
A dealer’s historical 2005 ordinary-dime partial-collar asking price of $5 shows how modest simple examples can be. It is a different-year offer, not a sale or a silver-Proof comparison.
How to Identify
The S silver Proof and ordinary P coin need different weight comparisons: a normal silver Proof is 2.50 grams, versus 2.268 grams for clad. Both normally measure 17.91 millimeters, so check a loose coin with a scale and calipers before choosing the example to compare.
Use a 10× magnifier to follow the edge step and preserved grooves where the collar restrained part of the blank. Filing across an edge does not create the same original transition between differently expanded sections.
Inspect the separately reported Philadelphia indent on that actual coin rather than transferring it to the silver Proof. The natural edge step, on the correctly identified issue, is the important evidence of partial restraint during striking.
8. 1997 Roosevelt Dime Missing Outer Metal Layer
A patch or face of exposed copper can indicate a missing outer layer. Normal circulating dimes have copper-nickel outer layers bonded to a copper center, called a clad structure.
A 1997-P example appears in auction records with an ANACS MS61 grade. Its affected face and the extent of layer loss need to be checked on the actual specimen.
A seller also reported a light copper-colored coin, but color and one weight cannot prove a whole layer is absent. Partial loss can look different from complete loss.
Staining or added copper coating may leave all the original metal intact.
Estimated Value
Estimate $40–$750 for genuine missing-layer errors, depending on extent, originality, and condition. This range uses comparable Roosevelt coins rather than an unverified amount for the 1997-P report.
A different-year 2018-P dime missing its front layer sold for $384 in July 2021. A small partial loss need not approach the price of that complete-face example.
The estimate assumes actual missing metal. Copper-colored toning, plating, or a deliberately stripped surface does not belong in the same comparison.
How to Identify
Examine the edge before relying on face color. A 10× magnifier can show the copper center and any remaining outer layer, while staining may cover a structurally normal coin.
Weigh a loose candidate against 2.268 grams and measure it with calipers against 17.91 millimeters. Record the actual reading rather than forcing every missing-layer dime into one reduced-weight target.
Follow any transition between exposed copper and remaining silver-colored metal. Inspect the grooved edge for scraping and the face for pits caused by chemicals.
Confirm the 1997 date and P on the same coin. The strongest visible clue is exposed core metal at an original layer boundary, supported by weight and surface evidence.
9. 1997 Roosevelt Dime Two Strikes on One Dime
Part of the design can appear twice when a dime stays in the press or returns for another strike. A documented 1997-P example has an off-center second strike and an NGC MS64 grade.
Its auction title does not give the shift’s percentage or direction. Those details should not be taken from another coin.
A separate published example has a first strike about seventy percent off center near twelve-thirty and another about ninety-eight percent near six. It may have turned over between blows.
The possible flip belongs to that second example. Repeated design alone does not prove that a coin flipped.
Estimated Value
The NGC MS64 double strike sold for $138 in December 2020. Estimate $100–$1,000 for genuine repeated-strike examples, depending on separation, visible design, and condition.
The more extreme two-strike example has no confirmed price assigned here. Its percentages and possible flip should not be used to rename the auctioned coin.
Value each complete piece once. A distinct second portrait or lettering can attract more interest than close overlapping marks that are difficult to explain.
How to Identify
Trace a recognizable letter or portrait from the first design before identifying the second image. With a 10× magnifier, follow where the later strike crosses or flattens the earlier details.
For the extreme published example, compare the separate strike areas and both faces before considering a flip. The ordinary NGC MS64 auction coin has no published direction to borrow.
Check a loose piece against 2.268 grams on a scale and record its altered outline with calipers against 17.91 millimeters. Inspect the edge grooves for later bending or squeezing.
A genuine second strike must contain stamped design, not simply a dent beside the first image.
Two readable design sequences provide the clearest confirmation.
10. 1997 Roosevelt Dime Solid Copper-Nickel Blank
This unusual dime looks full-sized but weighs only 1.85 grams. Its disk is solid copper-nickel instead of the usual outer layers surrounding a copper center.
The 1997-P coin was once described as having a missing core. Mike Diamond’s examination explains why that production theory is not established.
The measurable error is the unusual solid-metal blank. Its exact source does not need to be guessed to recognize that difference.
This is also different from losing one outer layer and exposing copper. Here, the metal throughout the disk is the feature being examined.
Estimated Value
For an authenticated full-sized dime on unusual solid copper-nickel metal, estimate $500–$3,000. Its measured composition and weight matter more than retaining the old missing-core name.
Modern Roosevelt foreign-blank guide estimates around $1,500–$2,500 offer broader wrong-metal context. They do not identify this blank as foreign or establish a sale of the 1.85-gram coin.
The range assumes a genuine unusual disk. Grinding, corrosion, or an outer layer breaking away creates a different comparison.
How to Identify
Weigh the actual loose coin first: the studied example is 1.85 grams rather than the normal 2.268 grams. Calipers should then check its full diameter against the usual 17.91 millimeters.
Inspect the grooved edge with a 10× magnifier for the absence of the normal copper-centered sandwich and for signs of grinding. A thin, coated, or chemically altered ordinary dime can mislead on color alone.
Professional metal testing is needed to support a solid copper-nickel identification, since a surface photograph cannot establish the entire disk’s composition. Compare its genuine stamped design, full width, and measured metal together rather than treating low weight as proof of a missing core.
11. 1997 Roosevelt Dime Lincoln Cent Struck over a Finished Dime
Lincoln-cent details can lie over an already finished Roosevelt dime. The documented example began as a 1997-P dime before receiving a 1997 cent design.
GreatCollections listed the resulting double-denomination coin as NGC MS65, an unworn grade with relatively few marks. Parts of both designs identify the two stages.
This reverses the idea of dime tools striking an unused cent blank. The dime was already a coin when the later tools stamped it.
The dates also matter. A separate account mentioning a later cent year should not be merged into this specifically identified 1997-over-1997-P example.
Estimated Value
Estimate $1,500–$3,500 for a comparable genuine cent-over-dime with readable remains of both designs. The preserved earlier date and mint strengthen the comparison.
The NGC MS65 example sold in August 2026, but the public page hides the final amount. Earlier bid snapshots of $1,585 and $1,905 were not the final sale.
The range is therefore an estimate, not a claimed result for that auction. Both denominations belong to one coin with one value.
How to Identify
Find a surviving Roosevelt or torch detail beneath the later Lincoln-cent design. A 10× magnifier can show where the newer strike crosses the older raised image.
Compare the two dates separately. The documented coin has a 1997 cent design over a 1997-P dime, not an unspecified dime beneath a readable cent date.
The starting dime normally weighs 2.268 grams and measures 17.91 millimeters. A scale and calipers can record a loose example, allowing for expansion from the later strike rather than assuming normal cent weight.
Inspect the edge for the dime’s metal layers, remaining grooves, or a join between attached coins. Genuine older dime details must continue beneath the cent design on the same original metal.
Conclusion
Check which design came first, what the edge shows, and whether the metal matches an ordinary dime. A thin solid-metal blank, an exposed copper core, and a cent struck over a dime tell different stories.
Estimated prices range from $5 for minor raised cracks to $3,500 for a clear cent-over-dime example. The documented double strike sold for $138.
Compare the actual coin’s finish and condition before using any of these ranges.