Unique US Coins You Can Buy Right Now Or Could Have Bought In The Past

That's unique, but there's no way an 1898 $5 "accidentally" got in the coin press. How on earth did they determine the date?

I saw that quarter the other day, quite an "accident"...

Me too thought the same thing. This was no accident, an intentional error, that makes me wonder how the person making it got it out, or was it just tossed into a bin and released into the wild? Not likely as gold even back in 1970 was too expensive for a worked to just make it and toss it away. into a random bag. Being a proof coin I can see how the coin could be made easier than as a business strike, but the security is pretty darn tight at the mint, even back then.

interesting. that had to have been intentionally made. interesting that it is called an error. interesting that it hasnt been seized by the secret service. interesting that they have a date for the gold coin. I dont see any undertype but the pictures arent super detailed. the rims are very strange. $5 gold is a decent chunk smaller than a quarter. maybe something about the reeding/ edge allows it to be dated.

i once heard an apocryphal story about the smuggling of errors and clandestine creations from the 70's and 80's mint. I have no idea if its true but its I fun idea. the story was that the mint employee would take some interesting errors and drop them into the oil pan on the forklift. the forklifts were sent offsite for maintenance. the maintenance shop would drop the oil pan and pull out the freshly liberated treasures. ive heard some other stories about how things make it out but this one is my favorite.

That's an easy answer as the entire 1898 date is plainly visible on the underlying strike still. From a Mike Beyers' article on the Mint Error News site there is a good overlay photo in the article showing the position of the 1898 gold quarter eagle date (reverse of the quarter).

https://minterrornews.com/discoveri...quarter.html

Mike Beyers is a top error dealer, he handles all the stuff I want (capped, double struck, off center and brockage Two Cent Pieces) but could never begin to afford, I do think his asking prices are awfully high, but heck he can basically ask whatever he wants, as just about everything he handles is unique.

https://mikebyers.com/

jbuck - if you're reading this, which I assume you are, check out Mike's archive section for amazing Ike dollar errors.

I believe all that means is that the Secret Service/Treasury agents investigated the source of the coins and decided they were not obtained in any unscrupulous manner. They were not able to link any theft of US Mint property or subterfuge as to the owner removing them or being involved with removing the coins.

But for stuff like this or the dime stuck on a nail type of stuff it has to be chicanery inside the mint.

I've actually been on the floor of the Denver mint and we had to submit to a search before then donning overalls (with no pockets) and searched again when we came off the floor as well as walking through a metal detector both before and after the floor tour. I was privileged to see and hold some of the most incredible errors that will never leave that facility. One was a stack of cents that had been jammed into the high speed press and mushed/fused together into a capped, off center, multiple strikes, etc., 50 or 60 cents (maybe more) made that error up being about the size and shape of a plastic SOLO cup, the type often used in college games of beer drinking. That was pretty impressive. The branch mint director was using it as a paperweight on his desk. He had many other smaller examples around the office on file cabinets and shelves. Very cool and unusual. The small group of folks I was with were also told before stepping on the production floor that any attempt to steal or cop a coin would be dealt with severely and they didn't mess around with their security and we shouldn't test them. I believed it.

Proof errors would be even more difficult to get out I'd imagine. The only times I recall anyone getting stuff out was a most unusual "robbery" at the U.S. Mint in Denver in 1920. Over a period of several months, Orville Harrington, a $4-a-day worker, stole an estimated $80,000 in gold by methodically secreting 53 7-inch-long bars in his hollow wooden leg. Harrington was arrested by Secret Service agents, plead guilty to embezzlement and was given a 10-year sentence at Leavenworth, Kansas.

Then this story of more modern times involving error coins: https://old.post-gazette.com/nation...614mint8.asp

There is actually an entire category of errors titled: Intentional and Assisted Mint Made Errors - https://www.error-ref.com/intention...made-errors/

westcoin - I went on the same sort of tour at the denver mint years ago. my wad of coins was quarters but was very similar to the cents you describe. the reject hopper was mind blowing. I remember thinking they could make a fortune if they turned that stuff into souvenirs and sold it at the gift shop.