Backyard Finds: 1956 Silver Roosevelt Dime

Actually, it's a front yard find from when I was putting in our slate walkway.  I own a metal detector and I usually use it on the local beach.  After digging up the sod for the walkway, I decided to break out my Ace 250 metal detector to see what I could find.  It was acting kind of strange and I was unable to get it working...maybe the batteries were dead.

Rather than going back into the house to get batteries, I grabbed my Garrett Pinpointer which is basically a handheld metal detector.  It really comes in handy when digging around in the dirt looking for coins, etc.  I used the pinpointer and went back and forth along the surface of the dirt path and found a few newer coins which were in really bad shape due to the elements.

When this 1956 Roosevelt dime came out of the dirt, I knew it was silver since it was so bright and shiny compared to the newer coins.  This is due to the fact that Roosevelt dimes that were minted between 1946-1964 were 90% silver and 10% copper.  Now they are about 92% copper and 8% nickel.

I also found an amusement token.  Maybe it's from the old Long Branch pier?

If you have some old coins and you'd like to know what they may be worth, I use the coin pricing guide called the "Red Book" shown below.  It has the history of the coins, information on colonial coins, error coins, mints sets, etc.  Definitely worth the $12!