Godless coins released in US mint cock-up

[mawilson 2,133]

America is braced for a nationwide treasure hunt as the Philadelphia mint confirmed

it had made a mistake when minting some of a new batch of dollar coins.

The coins were supposed to have the traditional "E Pluribus Unum" inscription, along

with "In God We Trust" around the edges. But due to an unholy error, both inscriptions

were left off. The mint was not able to say how many of the 300 million coins the error

had affected, but issued a statement saying that it was taking the necessary steps to

correct the defect.

"The United States Mint understands the importance of the inscriptions 'In God We Trust'

and 'E Pluribus Unum' as well as the mint mark and year on US coinage. We take this

matter seriously," it said.

"We also consider quality control a high priority. We are looking into the matter to

determine a possible cause in the manufacturing process."

Coins with minting errors are always collectable, particularly when the run with the

error is only small.

According to Reuters, one of the uninscribed coins has already sold on eBay for $405.

Although that is already a nice return on the initial dollar "investment", hanging on to it

for a while could pay huge dividends.

In 1922 a mistake in the minting process meant a number of one cent pieces were

issued without a "D" for the Denver Mint they were stamped at. One of these coins would

sell today for up to $10,000, according to Robert Hoge, curator at the Numismatic Society.

Source

[Mags 112]

Apparently, when the first coin was discovered it sold for thousands on eBay. However, it was later found out that there are quite a few hundred thousand of them in circulation now. If you get one, it will fetch only around $40. Better than $1 of course, but don't get too excited...

Edited March 8, 2007 by mags

[Jasman0717 8]

It kind of reminds me of the Bo Jackson baseball card with him in football shoulder pads and a bat over his shoulders. Hum, wonder how much that card is now worth, 2 bucks!