1983 P Roosevelt Prominent Thick Stout Letter & Symbolic Picture Dime

The mint mark is a normal P mint mark. The date looks like it was damaged, or was an issue with a slight Grease Fill on th 83 area. Not a big thing, no premium for this.

The US mint has been steadily modifying the designs of nearly all coins since their inception. Small things like changing the spacing of the lettering or sharpening details--it is done in the name of improvement, but in reality it gives mint engravers something to do.

Early coins are struck in high relief. It is hard on the machinery, but allows the coin to circulate longer before it must be pulled and destroyed. The trend has been to make the coins in shallow relief - it allows faster production, shorter life span, and more money (seignorage) for the mint. This is most evident from the early 1980s until the 1990s or early 2000s.

Your 1983 is also from a very worn and polished die. That is normal for coins from the 1970s and 80s; they used dies until the resulting coins were so mushily detailed that they would not meet the quality requirements.

The 1983 reverse is a VLDS die state. Thus the Die flow on the fields. But the big difference between these two dimes is that the 83 is the older multi setup hub process, make the relief higher. The 1986 is the lower profile single squeeze dies. look back at the obverses, you can see the 1983 is a lot higher in profile. Thus when you look at them side by side you notice this.

Here is a listing for the reverse die changes through the years of the Roseys.
http://www.varietyvista.com/07%20Ro...arieties.htm
See if that helps?