Washington
Dollar Error Coins - Philadelphia Mint Error
This is the
story of the Washing Dollar Error Coins that went
into circulation beginning February 15th, 2007.
The press
starting reporting soon after the release of an
undetermined number of new George Washington dollar coins which were
mistakenly struck without their edge inscriptions,
including "In God We Trust," and made it past
inspectors and into circulation.
The properly
struck dollar coins, bearing the likeness of George
Washington, are inscribed along the edge with "In
God We Trust," "E Pluribus Unum" and the year and
mint mark. They went into circulation Feb. 15, 2007.
The mint struck 300 million of the coins, which are
golden in color and slightly larger and thicker than
a quarter. About half were made in Philadelphia and
the rest in Denver. So far the mint has only
received reports of error coins coming from
Philadelphia.
The
215-year-old Philadelphia mint, located downtown on
Independence Mall, employs about 500 people and last
year produced about 7.8 billion coins. The
overwhelming majority of error coins are caught by
inspectors and melted down.
The coin's
design has already spurred e-mail conspiracy
theories claiming that the religious motto was
purposely omitted from the Washington dollars. That
rumor may have started because the edge lettering
cannot be seen in head-on photographs of the coins.
The Washington dollars are the first in a series of
presidential coins slated to run until 2016. After
Washington, the presidents to be honored on dollar
coins this year will be John Adams, Thomas Jefferson
and James Madison. The new coins "in commemoration
of each of the nation's past presidents has a goal
to improve circulation of the $1 coin according to
the
Presidential $1 Act of 2005.
It's been reported that these coins started
selling as high as $600 each.
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