Historically, mintmarks have been used to designate which mint a coin was made at. The only exception has been Philadelphia, which never put a "P" on its coins until 1942 with the silver war nickel. After the war, the "P" took another hiatus until 1979, when it reappeared on Anthony dollars. In 1980, legislation passed putting the "P" mintmark on all U.S. coins except the penny.

But in 1982, there was an error with this. Some of the dimes made in Philly came out without a "P" mintmark. What happened was one of two things. The first possibility is that the mark was simply not punched in the die. The second, and most probable possibility, is that the "P" punched in the die used to strike these coins filled with dirt and dust. The result was that the metal could not be pushed into the "P" when the coin was stuck, and thus they appear to have no mintmark.

These coins are valued at $200 in MS-65, or very uncirculated, condition. Unfortunately their findability is rather low, as this was both a less common and more obvious error than most. There are an estimated 8000 out there. Still, it’s not a bad idea to check any 1982 dimes you find just in case.

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