Godless Dollars Finally Make the Mainstream Media

Godless Dollars! Imagine that! Just when I thought the coin collecting community had about settled on calling the major Washington Presidential Dollar error coins the "plain edge" Washington Dollars, the mainstream media finally picked up the story of the new dollar coins with missing edge lettering. It took a term like Godless Dollars to get them interested enough to cover it, but they have finally taken notice of this remarkable and important error coin event. Of course, your About.com Coins Guide broke this so-called "Godless Dollars" story nearly two weeks ago, when I was able to confirm the first of hundreds of reports, mostly coming out Florida, that some of the new Presidential Dollars had no edge lettering.

The edge of the new dollar coins should have lettering that reads E PLURIBUS UNUM - IN GOD WE TRUST - 2007 P. The P could also be a D, as it is the mint mark that indicates whether the coin was made at the Philadelphia or Denver mint. The - (dash mark) actually appears on the coins as an incused circle. As I have been covering this story for nearly two weeks now, I have several articles and blog posts for those who are just finding out about this and would like to learn more. I am listing them in reverse order and noting the dates so you can follow along as this story developed:

• Presidential Dollar Edge Lettering - Errors Already? (Published Feb. 21, 2007)



• Major Presidential Dollar Error - No Edge Lettering! (Published Feb. 23, 2007)



• U. S. Mint Issues Statement Regarding Plain Edge Presidential Dollar Errors (Published Feb. 27, 2007)



• Washington Dollar Plain Edge Coins - FAQs (Published March 3, 2007)

I have an article about the program in general if you'd like to learn more about the Presidential Dollars and how they're made, plus a Presidential Dollars Photo Gallery showing what the rest of the dollars being released in 2007 look like. In conjuction with the Presidential Dollars series, the U.S. Mint will also have an issue of "First Ladies" gold coins coming out. (The politically correct term now, and the one the U.S. Mint is using, is the "First Spouses" coin program.) You can learn more about this series, too, and see a photo gallery of the First Spouses Coin Designs.

If you have been lucky enough to find any of the Godless Dollars, and haven't already reported them to me, please share your good fortune with us by noting your report in the Comments section below, or email reports to me at coins.guide@about.com. Please be sure to state what city you found them in, whether they came from a Philadelphia or Denver coin roll (if known,) and how many Godless Dollars you have found. We are trying to get a reliable estimate of the number of these Godless Dollars that escaped the mint, so your report will be very much appreciated. Remember, true Washington Godless Dollars have a plain edge with no lettering on it.

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Photo of Godless Dollar by Jeff King, courtesy of Capital Coin and Diamond, Inc.