$100 Gold Striking Error - Where Does Mike Byers Find This Stuff?

Knowingly dealing in a product of a questionable nature immediately brings ones reputation into question does it not?

Most spectacular errors has some dubious help in it's creation, or just a natural process of a malfunction in the striking process, as example the 1996 Antique finish Macintosh Apple dollar, was a trial piece that a senior RCM gave to a long term third party repackager for the RCM as a gift and latter the RCM confirmed it with a letter which was sold in the Legacy sale. The more you collect really cool errors in recent dates, the only way to escape the mint is through the front door, the senior management seems to have some leeway, many people believe the dot penny was a special creation of a mint employee, yet it's considered a great rarity. My thoughts are I didn't order these cool errors that pop up ever so often, if the price is right enjoy them.

Those are some amazing errors. Mixed feelings. mint master and higher ups in the crown corporation having the ability to have off metal GOLD strikings done and kept for their enjoyment is similar to the Dingwall gum fiasco. It was gum, but it exposed a culture of entitlement. The public should not pay for items completely unrelated to furthering the business of the mint. If they do have the ability to keep such items they should be paid for out of pocket. If not, the coins should be returned after being used for what ever the business intent the special strike was utilized for.

Striking errors are one thing, can't assume they were struck and snuck out, but possessing what should be nickel coinage struck on gold is not right imo. Unless the gold is accounted for and or the gold value in the strike was paid for out of pocket by said higher up. Otherwise, the Canadian public footed the bill so a higher up could personally posses an expensive oddity and possibly sold them for money into the collector community. Imo it's similar to the janitor stealing gold from the mint.

Just my opinion.

There is a big difference with the Manitoba gold dollar, it was proven in a trial that rogue employees created these pieces and got them out, these two pieces could be test strikes, but agree they should not have left the mint. There was a recent auditor report regarding the RCM allowing spouses to fly and enjoy meetings around the world that in the long run cost us the taxpayers way more than a couple oz. of precious metals.

In the early seventies I had two job offers one at the mint and one at Atomic Energy in South March. I took the latter because it was closer to Arnprior. Wish now I taken the job at the mint.

No, it does not. Certainly not without proof that such items were, in fact, stolen...

Certainly, once they are sold in a public auction within Canada, basically, they are fair game.

The problem I see with these "Back door Errors" is that they not only diminish the rarity and value of the error coins found legitimately by the noodling fraternity, They pretty much make a mockery of error coins per se when they are artificially produced via "Mint Sport".
Also as most collectors are fully aware that a large percentage these "Errors" are illegally sourced and that some of the high profile dealers/experts are facilitating the sale of them, It tends to tarnish the reputations of other dealers unfairly.