Godless George

No, sillies, not Bush II, but Washington.

Apparently thousands of president dollar coins went out from the Philly mint without the edge lettering of 2007 P or “E pluribus unum.” Most shocking of all, no “In God We Trust.”

And this just after a friend forwarded an e-mail suggesting we boycott these dollars because they were godless. I said no worries, the lettering was on the edge and wouldn’t wear off easily because it was “incuse,” or inset into the rim. Of course, mint employees have a harder time spotting errors on circulating coins where they haven’t been looking since the early 1800’s.

Naturally, to collectors, mistakes like this have value. The first doscovery went for about $600 on eBay, but as more examples have turned up, the price has dropped. If you want one, it will cost about $50 unless you find it in change.

I’m still hoping I’ll find an error coin in change some day. I picked up a roll of the Washington dollars, but they all looked normal to me. Brittany prefers her allowance in “gold,” so I’ve got it covered for about five weeks.