For what it's worth, there is an added benefit to numismatists because of William Gray's actions and Pleading Guilty. Most of the sources have reported that he is the former Policeman who stole 2.4 million worth of Presidential edge errors and sold them to a coin dealer in California. But most aren't reporting what is available on the internet in the form of the Counts against him and the necessary background for those charges. That 15 page document is located at http://www.justice.gov/usao/nj/Press/files/pdffiles/2011/Gray, William Information.pdf and not only gives the scope of his thievery and other related charges (that's why the government has the the laws to get you for non-reporting illegal income), but gives a overview of the minting process in regards to these coins, which can be helpful to know, in light that the mint hardly ever reveals info on their processes. Basically, he stole the coins, selling them for between 20 and about 70 dollars each, and got checks from the dealer for the same which he put in his account and did not report as income. Government is attaching claim to a number of his assets, so that if they can't identify and recover the coins, they will be recompensated for the stolen items. The part that goes about the mint and minting process is: (under heading The United States Mint): "3. The Mint facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was the largest and was one of four active coin-producing mints. The Mint operated 24 hours per day, seven days per week, 365 days per year." (under heading Coin Production Process): "5. "Coin" or "coins" were all circulated, uncirculated, uncurrent, mutilated, imperfect coins, mis-struck, set up, and trial struck pieces. "Coinage metal in any form" was all metal used in the manufacture of coins in any stage of coin processing. "6. The Mint had a highly structured and controlled process for making coins. The first step in modeling a coin was drawing and designing the coin. After a design was approved, the Mint produced a digital database that was measured and verified to confirm adherence to all design and manufacturing guidelines. All final designs were reviewed for defects such as misaligned letters, missing or misinterpreted design elements, and manufacturability. After approval, a new project was crteated and the data was placed in a comprehensive coin database and released to manufacturing. "7. The nest step was production, which includes how coins were formed, treated, and maintained. The process began with the creation of dies, which were used to strike all final circulating coins. Making working dies started with a "master" hub, created with a durable steel blank. The Mint used Computer Aided Manufacturing software to read and interpret the design data, which was used to mill a blank piece of steel into a finished hub. This process was repeated for a different design on a second hub representing the design for the coin's opposite side. The master hub was then used to produce a "master die." After a die was created, coins were ready to be stamped. Coin production started with rolled-up strips of flat metal known as coils. Coils were then punched out to make blanks, which were round, plain-surfaced disks of different sizes. Next, blanks were annealed (process of softening the metal using a high heat furnace), washed, dried, and rimmed to produce planchets (which were round metal disks that were ready to be struck as a coin and were also referred to as blanks). "8. Planchets then traveled to the stamping press through a press feed system. The presses contained finger feeds, also known as "feeder finger tips." Finger feeds were made of zinc, aluminum and other alloy metals, and varied in size depending on the coin denomination that they were feeding. They were installed on the press and functioned to guide each planchet into the area where the planchet was struck by the dies with the coin design. Finger feeds were routinely replaced when they became damaged due to wear and tear (break, bend, or became loose), or accidentally became misaligned and struck by dies with coin images. To strike the planchets, one die (known as the anvil) was held motionless by a finger feed, while the other die (known as the hammer) struck the planchet's surface. The anvil was usually a reverse (or tails) die and the hammer was the obverse (or heads). Presses normally churned out between 650 and 750 new coins every minute. "9. After coins were struck, they were placed in a collection box called a trap, where they were inspected to see if they met the Mint quality standards. If an error was spotted, coins in the collection box were scrapped and sent to coin destruction machines called wafflers. These coins would be distorted and mutilated, and the metal was recycled for future use. Coins that passed inspection were run through an automatic counting machine which was fitted with a sensor that detected correct products, counted the coins and dropped them into large bags. Con bags that were filled were weighed and properly sealed, then loaded onto pallets and transported to vaults for storage. Coin bags remained in inventory until they were needed for circulation. The Mint shipped coins in bulk bags to branches of the Federal Reserve Bank, depots, and coin terminals." (under "Removal of Items Containing Errors From the Coin Production Process"): "10. There were only two ways for nonexpendable property belonging to the Mint lawfully to be removed from the Mint facility of come into the hands of a private owner: (1) proper sale of the property as a numismatic item; or (2) proper disposal of the property through the General Services Administration (GSA), commonly through public auction. "11. Although the Mint had sold some coin-making equipment as numismatic items (e.g., die sets that had beeen "cancelled" or otherwise obliterated), the Mint had not sold finger feeds, mule coins, or missing edge letter coins as numismatic items." It goes on to state the time period William Gray was stealing (about 2007 through Oct 2010) and that he received about 50 checks from the dealer totalling approx. 2.4 million dollars, which Gray put into his Credit Union account. I took that much copying because the format of the pdf doesn't lend itself to easy saving, and this info may disappear from the net at some point. If someone is collecting errors, knowing the processes (or having them confirmed by the mint or govenment) is certainly valuable.
Actually, everything they described is fairly common knowledge to experienced collectors. The coining process is not a secret and it's described in many books and online. This is still a good post for new collectors to read though.
If you own any Presidential Dollars missing edge lettering struck at the Philly Mint - will now probably be subject to confiscation - if the US Gov't wants to go this route.
Without the edge inscription, they can't prove where the coin came from. At best, they can confiscate the dealer's sales records and work from there. It's sounds to me like the dealer is cooperating as their information is explicitly omitted from the filing. I would also bet that we would all recognize the dealer if we were told who it was. I would even bet that there are people on here who could figure out who it was since some 32,000 plus coins were funneled through a single "distributor".
