Error coin, a dime struck onto a nail, is headed to auction

http://news.yahoo.com/error-coin-dime-struck-onto-165252745.html

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Weird for sure. But I am not an error collector, so all I can do is gape.

 

I thought it was a joke until I saw the slab.

 

What criteria does PCGS use to grade nails?

 

And you thought you'd seen it all.

 

Somewhat surprised it got a grade. But the nail does have some luster.

 

The article said: "Rogue Mint Employee" It must be a synonym for "Rogue Government".

 

I'm pretty sure, at least if I remember correctly, that there's another "struck on nail" coin presently on ebay. I believe it was a cent and PCGS certified as well.

 

That must be the "ten-penny" nail!

 

WOW, I wonder who would have that in their collection.

 

NICE ONE!!!!

 

Heritage sent out a hilarious article in their Coin News e-newsletter today about this piece:

By Stewart Huckaby

Lot 3496 in our upcoming January 6-11 FUN US Coins Signature Auction in Tampa is one of the strangest numismatic errors that we - or for that matter any other numismatist - has ever seen. PCGS's label describes it as a No Date Mint Error dime, MS65, struck on a nail. It is immediately obvious when looking at it that it the striking dies were for a Roosevelt Dime, but many questions remain:

• How did the nail get into the Mint Machinery?
• Since a dime was struck on it, was it a 10 penny nail? (No, according to the description it was a 6 penny nail. Apparently the US Mint did not strike sixpence coins at the time.)
• Is MS65 a sharpness grade?
• Which side was hit by the hammer die?
• Is this piece tooled?
• Would it be cleaned with nail polish?
• Is this considered hammered coinage?
• What will the nail price be?
• What will the hammer price be?

 

In my view, someone with too much money and too little to do.

 

Bid is at $4,000 with a buyers premium of $700.........

 

It's seems perfectly fitting that about 60% of that dime was struck on onto a 6 penny nail. So 6 pennies worth of a dime.

 

You think the Mint employee be nailed for the crime? I wonder if the FBI is on the case? You think the Mint is monitoring this website? ..........I'll answer that. No but the Russians and Chinese probably are!

 

Speaking of China, how long before we see counterfeits on Ebay?

 

Yeah, I bet it was that US Mint Officer who stole all the error coins he could find back in 2011/12 or earlier. The buyers of these errors have held onto their errors until the heat cleared. Not a normal error at all and that's exactly what the thief Mint employee was looking for. Ok, I found the error thief, he's in the top link. Well, the linky no worky. Story below...

"Judge sentences Mint police officer to prison

Sold stolen error coins to unwitting coin dealer

By Paul Gilkes-Coin World Staff | Oct. 03, 2012 10:00 a.m.

The 2007 George Washington Presidential dollar missing its edge inscription is of the type a former Philadelphia Mint police officer admitted stealing from the coin production facility.

Former Philadelphia Mint police officer William Gray was sentenced to a term in federal prison Sept. 13 on charges related to the theft of error coins from the Mint facility.

The sentencing occurred a year after Gray admitted he stole thousands of Presidential dollars lacking the edge inscription from the Philadelphia Mint and sold them to a California coin dealer for approximately $2.4 million.

The former Philadelphia Mint police officer was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Noel L. Hillman in Camden, N.J., to 36 months in a federal penitentiary. Gray, aged 65, is from North Wildwood, N.J. Judge Hillman also sentenced Gray to three years of supervised release after serving the prison term, and ordered Gray to pay $15,208 in restitution to the U.S. Mint, forfeit property that is traceable to having been associated with the sale of the stolen coins, and cooperate with the IRS concerning his tax liability for underreporting his earnings.

The property to be forfeited includes $2.3 million in cash, two houses in Philadelphia, five motor vehicles, a boat and boat motor.

Gray admitted depositing the proceeds from the sale of the stolen coins into his Police and Fire Federal Credit Union account.

Gray pleaded guilty to one count each of theft of government property, tax evasion, mail fraud and money laundering.

Gray worked as a Philadelphia Mint police officer from June 1996 through January 2011, after a 26-year career as a police officer for the City of Philadelphia.

Gray admitted before Judge Hillman that the thefts began in 2007, the year the Presidential $1 Coin Program was introduced.

Gray admitted in court that he removed coins lacking the edge inscription from the coining area and placed them into small bags that he then removed from the Philadelphia Mint. Gray admitted taking coins lacking the edge lettering because he knew they would be more valuable to collectors than normal coins.

Gray removed the coins before the edge inscription was added, which occurs in a separate production step after the coins are struck with a plain edge.

Theft and sale of coins

Matthew Reilly, acting public affairs officer for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark, told Coin World on Sept. 25 that the U.S. Mint estimates that Gray stole from 10,108 to 12,208 Presidential dollars of different designs that were lacking the edge inscription.

Gray said he was initially paid $20 per coin, and eventually received from $70 to $75 per coin.

Gray admitted to shipping the coins to the coin dealer in California from the U.S. Postal Service facility in Rio Grande, N.J., and from the Federal Express facility in Egg Harbor Township, N.J.

Gray also admitted that between 2007 and 2009, he failed to report the sales of the stolen coins on his income tax return. Gray admitted understating his tax liability by $801,651.

According to Gray’s plea agreement filed Sept. 8, 2011, a public document that Coin World obtained, Gray identified the California coin firm to whom he sold the stolen error coins as Byers Numismatic Corp. The firm, owned by Michael S. Byers, is currently located in San Clemente, Calif.

Reilly said Sept. 25 that there is no evidence that Byers knew the Presidential dollars lacking edge lettering that Gray supplied to the firm were stolen. Reilly said the U.S. Attorney’s Office has no plans to pursue any charges against Byers.

Ownership questions

Tom Jurkowsky, director of the U.S. Mint’s Office of Public Affairs, issued a statement to Coin World on Sept. 23, 2011, in response to a question concerning the legality of ownership of error coins depending on how they enter the marketplace.

“Error coins that are lawfully issued — coins that were not detected by humans or machines — belong to whomever has lawful possession of them,” according to the statement published in an
Oct. 10, 2011, Coin World article.

“The United States Mint strives to achieve only the highest quality of coins that it produces. However, we as humans — despite our high professional standards and use of exceptional machinery and equipment — occasionally make mistakes. While rare, coins containing errors have legally left our facilities. As long as such coins have been legally issued (e.g., numismatic coins sold to collectors who purchase numismatic products, or circulating coins sold to the Federal Reserve Banks), they may be privately owned. We do what we can to minimize those occurrences and pride ourselves on the very low number of error coins that do, in fact, find their way into circulation or into our numismatic products,” according to the Mint statement.

“What we cannot control, unfortunately, is human nature and a person’s willingness to abuse the trust and authority that is given to them. And what we cannot legally sanction is the private ownership or sale of the objects of such abuse — error pieces that were never legally issued and, as such, remain property belonging to the United States. When that abuse occurs, we will act appropriately.”

According to the article, “Based on Jurkowsky’s statement, it would seem that the coins stolen by the Mint police officer and sold into the marketplace remain Mint property and thus are not legal to own. However, it remains to be seen whether those coins can be distinguished from those Presidential dollars lacking edge inscriptions that were legitimately released. The future of the stolen coins may hinge on any continuing investigation into their theft and distribution into the marketplace.”

Reilly, the U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman in Newark, indicated Sept. 25, 2012, that federal officials are not pursuing any additional investigation involving the stolen coins."

http://www.coinworld.com/articles/ju...cer-to-prison/


http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/weird/US-Mint-Worker-Stole--129518468.html

 

Interesting article. But it doesn't answer the question about the dime strike into the nail. Interesting, that the Mint spokesman wasn't available for comment.

So PCGS is calling it a Mint Error?!?!? Really? I'm not a legal scholar but it looks like malicious intent to me. Either that or a carpenter working on the roof of the mint dropped one of his nails and it accidently ended up under the dime die. I wonder if he wants his nail back?? I guess sh_ _ happens!

Wonder who owns the dime/nail. Maybe the Mint itself put it out there to generate more revenue or interest in Mint products. Just saying.....

 

How could it be struck through a nail, when the nail can't fit in the collar?