New George Washington Dollar Coin Error Found: Faceless Coin

/ Adam Nash

I’ve written a lot about the new Presidential Dollar Coin series, and the recent mint errors found with the coins. Some of my previous posts can be found on my Coins page, but the best ones are:

Well, a second significant error has been found, and it is much more substantial than the first. A Colorado couple has found a dollar coin that is missing it’s face. That’s right, move over “Godless” dollar, here comes the “Faceless” dollar.

Faceless2

This coin is a true rarity, and will likely be worth thousands of dollars. Unlike the thousands of coins missing edge lettering, this type of error involves missing a large number of mint quality checkpoints, and may be unique. From the Conservative Voice:

U.S. Mint spokesman Michael White said officials had not confirmed the Smiths’ find. But Ron Guth, a coin authenticator with Professional Coin Grading Service of Newport Beach, Calif., said he is certain the coin is authentic.

“It’s really pretty rare,” Guth said. “It somehow slipped through several steps and inspections.”

It could be worth thousands of dollars, maybe more, he said. The value will depend on how many similar misprints are found, but the Smiths’ will always be worth more because it will be the first one to be independently authenitcated, Guth said.

When you manufacture 300,000,000 of anything, you expect a few errors. Still, this one is very impressive, and will no doubt lead to further excitement about this new dollar coin in collecting circles.

As a public service announcement, let me just close again with the known errors that exist.

  • Missing Edge Lettering. These are the “Godless” dollars, called that because they are missing all the lettering on the edge of the coin, including the mint mark, the year, E Pluribus Unum, and In God We Trust. This error seems to have been sourced to a mint bag of 140,000 coins that may have missed edge printing in Philadelphia.
  • Missing Reverse Face. These are the “Faceless” dollars, only one verified to date. These coins are missing the Statue of Liberty on the back of the dollar coin.

There is no such thing as an Upside Down Lettering Error. The mint process for these coins is random, the lettering will be rotated on various coins, and is not guaranteed to be facing up or down.

Don’t be fooled into paying good money for a fake error.

Update (3/17/2007): If you are looking to buy original, unsearched bank rolls of the new George Washington dollar coins, I have procured a box of 40 rolls, in a box certified as wrapped on December 7, 2006. They are available here on eBay Express.  Sold out!  Will get more soon!

Update (5/24/2007): For a limited time only, I am now carrying unopened, original John Adams Presidential Dollar coin rolls in my eBay Store. Click here to buy them on eBay Express. I also have a few more original bank rolls of the George Washington dollar coins.  Click here to buy them on eBay Express.

If you are interested in the other rolls I am carrying, click here for all the coins I am currently selling on eBay Express.

30 thoughts on “New George Washington Dollar Coin Error Found: Faceless Coin”

  1. In the middle of a roll we just recived, we have one coin that is only plated on the edge. The front and back are not plated. Is this an error?

  3. i have a roll of these coins. the edge of them were in god we trust just has lines their. is that an error???

  4. I found an error involving extra rays on the liberty crown… i’m having it looked into by littleton right now to see if its worth anything…out of 150 coins I only found 5 of them w/ three extra rays…

  6. I heard that the mint recovered all of the coins with no edge lettering, and all the thousands selling on ebay must have been filed off, what do you think?

  7. Hi Just a Voice,

    Not only haven’t I heard that, but I don’t really understand how that would even be possible. There are a very large number of verified edgeless errors.

    It’s not only unlikely, but impossible for the US Mint to recover them all. Some estimates put the total count of edgeless error coins at over 100,000.

    I think the bigger danger with the edgeless error coins is that supply will outstrip demand for them.

    Adam

  8. I have a coin that is not plated on the front or the back. Is it a Template or what? My coin looks like a penny but same size as the dollar coin. Any comments??

  9. Is there any information available regarding the “unburnished” George Washington dollar? Anybody know how rare this is? Thanks

  10. I have one of these that the I in ( IN ) is VERY faint.. alsomost not even there.. and whats with the dots on each side of the coin between the trust and date.. and E Pluribus Unum and In, its like something grabed them a bit to hard and left a nice dent on each side

  11. hey i have a presidential dollar with nothin printed on either side or the edge. I got it out of the roll. What do you think about this?

  13. I have a new Washington Dollar that has rays on both sides & the two S’s in STATES upper serif filled. Oh & NO Letters on the edge.
    Is it special?
    Richard

  14. Adam- is the Philadelphia mint the only one to have made smooth edge and blank planchette errors, or are they also being found from the Denver mint?

  15. I am not fully up to speed on all the variations, but according to the articles I’ve read, the only verified smooth edge errors are from Philidelphia, and the blank planchette is a single error from Denver.

    Adam

  16. What mint did this “faceless” example come from?? … Any idea on cause of error? Very interesting!! thanks for the article.

  17. I have a denver minted presidents dollar coin and on the edge lettering the words in god we trust are clear. But on the word trust the T`s are not crossed the lettering is perfectly centered on the edge can this an error if you can let me know.

  18. I hope someone realizes the great marketing job the US mint has accomplished. The re-birth of US coins!!! It’s too bad they weren’t the ones getting 100plus a coin. That would have offered some extra funding for the Government aided programs that we also have forgotten about. I am a coin collector and I have enjoyed this as much as the rest but I think we need to put a cap on this “error” epidemic. It’s clear(at least it is to me) that these so called error coins are actually purposely releasted into circulation to advertise ans sell these coins. With the technology we have today, do you honestly think they just slipped thru? There were very few error coins until now(pop wise) and they were minted years and years ago when we had a fraction of the technology we have today. IS this making cents? Or am I just a party spoiler?

  19. Sorry Jason,

    I don’t buy the conspiracy theory. There are no black helicopters here. This is a new process and a new coin – I think that the most of the errors, which are in very small numbers, are typical for any mechanical process.

    What might be missing here is a level of quality control, which might have to do with the tight timeframes for each coin release.

    Of course, I could be wrong, and this could all have been orchestrated by the shadowy figures of the Illuminati. In fact… I may be one of them.

    Thanks for reading!
    Adam

  21. Hello all, I have a question, can someone tell me the weight of these dollar coins with no edge lettering??? If someone grinds down the edge how much weight would this take off the coin??? I have one of these coins missing the edge letters and the weight of this coin is 7.97 and in the uncirculated set from the mint it says the washington dollar should weigh 8.1. How much weight would be removed from grinding the edge. thanks

  22. Hi Jimmy,

    Sounds like you have a ground coin. From what I’ve read, the grinding takes of anywhere from 0.1 to 0.2 – I would seriously doubt it’s legitimate.

    Adam

  24. i found a presidents dollar in a roll with no lettering on the front or back (faceless on both sides) and no lettering on the edges could the other coins tell me what mint,what do i need to do with it???? what is it worth??

  25. I have a bunch of 2007 and 2008 gold dollar coins with the edge writting upside down is this a good find?

  26. i have got a washington dollor with what look’s like sun ray’s around his head. i know it’s a error because i have seen a picture of one on another site.i want to know how rare this is and what the coin is worth.

  27. Hi.
    I have a question . I have an unopen box of washington dollars. The numbers and letters on the box say cwi#102 FEb09 2007. How do i know what mint its from? Also is it better for me to sell the whole box or sell by the rolls.
    Thanks
    Frank

Comments are closed.