1945 FB Mercury Dime Or Not?

I hate to be a naysayer but I doubt either PCGS or NGC would give it FB status, they both hate "creating wealth" from marginal coins. There is a very good reason why a 64 is a $5k coin, 65 is a $10k+ coin, and 66 is a $15k coin- 1945-P FBs are incredibly rare.

However, it is still a choice coin with almost Full Bands so it should definitely sell for a premium. How much will depend on how badly someone wants a 1945-P with bands that are at least separated and it would not surprise me to see it go for at least double what an average 1945-P would sell for.

I was originally going to say "even if it's not full bands, it's better than 99% of the 1945-P that you see" but then thought that might be an exaggeration... But maybe not. 1945 is a common enough date (mintage of 159 million) that you can acquire uncirculated rolls easily enough. If I bought two rolls, would I expect to find one this nice? Not likely... True FB examples are almost literally one in a million. Is this coin perhaps one in a thousand?

Yeah, I think "double what an average 1945-P would sell for" is quite reasonable. It's a high grade, with clean fields, and a sharp strike with virtually no weakness in the periphery, which is common even on full band examples.

WOW! Thank you everyone for the mountain of information, ideas, suggestions and opinions: Your collective thoughts and insight have given me a lot to think about concerning this coin.

Having had this coin for a good while and after much consideration of my humble abilities and knowledge as a collector, I have decided to do the following with this 1945-P Mercury dime.

I have listed this coin for auction in my little online web store. The auction will run for 7 days with no reserve and has been started at what I feel is a fair sum of $24.99 with free shipping.

http://www.flipofacoin.webstore.com

I am not attempting to circumvent CCF policies, I just do not feel that I can do justice to this coin as long as it remains in my possession.

Please pass the link along to any of your friends in the collecting community whom may have an interest in this coin.

Thank you again for all of your help and I look forward to many interesting conversations with you all in the future!

Nope. I said I would gladly own it, and I will now back that statement up.

I'm even more pleased to hear the destination for the proceeds. I am ex-Army myself, and glad to potentially support such an organization.

If there are no uncirculated examples of a coin, should an xf be graded ms?

The reason 45p fb bring big money is because even nice examples fall short.

Biggfredd: I never thought of it that way, thanks for the different point of view.

I think you hit the proverbial monkey with the hammer concerning that question!

A little more than 24 hours till this Mercury dime has a new 'care taker!' I hope you (SuperDave?) enjoy the piece as much as I have... Thank you everyone!