Rare Coins Put Into Circulation

One-Dollar Coins Lack ‘In God We Trust’

By Jerry Garner

The United States Mint has announced that an unknown number of defective coins have been released into general circulation. The faulty coins have already appeared on the internet auction site ebay.com, selling for as much as $600 per coin.

An error made during the minting process caused a number of coins to be manufactured without the words “In God We Trust” to not be stamped onto the new George Washington One-Dollar coins. The new George Washington dollars, which are slightly larger and thicker than a Quarter, are the first in a series of Presidential coins.

The coins that were manufactured correctly bear the likeness of George Washington, along with the inscriptions “In God We Trust” and “E Pluribus Unum”. The year and mint mark are also inscribed along the edge of the coin. The defective coins fail to carry the “In God We Trust” slogan that appears on all US currency.

Having gone into circulation on February 15th, many of the 300 million coins manufactured have already found their way into the hands of coin collectors, who are attracted to the golden color of the new coin. While no official tally has been released, it appears that the coins were evenly minted in Philadelphia and Denver. Although each location produced roughly the same number of one dollar coins, the defective coins found so far have all been made at the Philadelphia mint.

While officials from the US Mint have stated that it is not known how many faulty coins were released into the market, other industry experts have released ballpark figures on the subject. Ron Guth, President of one of the world’s largest coin authentication companies, Professional Coin Grading Service, estimates that as many as 50,000 defective coins have been released.

"The first one sold for $600 before everyone knew how common they actually were," Guth said. "They're going for around $40 to $60 on eBay now, and they'll probably settle in the $50 range."

Of course, that value could increase as time goes by, as have other mistakes made by the US Mint in the past. One example pointed out by many collectors is the 1965 Roosevelt Dime. The US Mint officially stopped producing silver coins in 1964, but a number of dimes produced the following year were mistakenly minted of 90% silver. These 10-cent pieces are commonly sold for more than $20,000 today.

The “Double Die” is a more common minting error, and happens quite frequently as high speed machinery stamps a coin twice. Although this occurs more often than one would assume, the most famous double die is the 1972 Lincoln Penny. This 1-cent piece is commonly sold for as much as $600, depending on the quality of the coin.

While the value of the George Washington dollar is still uncertain, it is certain that it is worth more than the one dollar face value. Many Americans could have already won the coin lottery without even realizing it. Anyone in possession of the new dollars should analyze their pocket change carefully, because this mistake is not likely to be repeated any time soon.

According to a written statement issued by the Mint, production of the new Presidential coins required a “new, complex, high-volume manufacturing system”. There was apparently not just a failure in the new machinery, but also in the Mint’s quality control staff, who somehow allowed the coins to slip by undetected.

"We take this matter seriously. We also consider quality control a high priority. The agency is looking into the matter to determine a possible cause in the manufacturing process," the statement said.

Becky Bailey, a spokeswoman for the US Mint, said that production of the series will continue as scheduled. The next coin in the series, issued in honor of President John Adams, is scheduled to begin in May.

"We are adjusting the manufacturing process to try to eliminate the problems," Bailey said.

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Some coins lack 'In God We Trust'