Unlike the 1919-D Winged Liberty Head dime, the typical 1939-D dime is well-struck. 

Professional Coin Grading Service explains the full bands designation, writing on its website: “a Mercury dime with full band details will have fully separated horizontal bands on the central part of the fasces (the bundle of rods on the reverse). In addition, there can be no interruption on the trough (depression) of the bands due to strike, contact, planchet problems or any other damage, whether mint caused or not, if the coin is to obtain the PCGS Full Band designation.” 

It adds, “Although the central bands must be fully separated with no interruption, it is not necessary to have full roundness to the bands — the so-called ‘McDonald’s Arches’ that are sometimes referred to as Full Split or Full Rounded Bands.” 

Inside Coin World: Unusual origin for brockaged Lincoln cent: Columns in the May 20 issue serve up for reader enjoyment an unusual brockaged Lincoln cent, diagnostics of a fake 1897-S Morgan dollar and a review of the market for the 1922 Grant Memorial coins.

Those arches are golden (and seemingly every other color of the rainbow) on this magnificently toned 1939-D Winged Liberty Head dime graded PCGS Mint State 69 full bands.

Heritage writes, “On the obverse, the upper and lower margins have deep olive-russet, pine-green, and crimson color. The reverse is toned to the left of the fasces in amber-gold, green, and teal.” The colorful dime is one of 24 like-graded coins at PCGS with none finer. The frostily lustrous dime from Heritage’s auction of the Charles McNutt Collection sold for $4,920 on Jan. 11. 

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