In God We Trust. In machines? Not so much.
An unknown number of new U.S. $1 coins bearing the image of George Washington are missing the words “In God We Trust” and other lettering along the edges, the U.S. Mint said on Wednesday.
It is unclear how the mistake occurred or how many of the coins are in circulation, according to the Mint statement. The Mint said it would make necessary technical adjustments in the manufacturing to eliminate the defect.
“The United States Mint understands the importance of the inscriptions ‘In God We Trust’ and ‘E Pluribus Unum’ as well as the mint mark and year on U.S. coinage. We take this matter seriously,” the statement said.
Of course, it’s absolutely unimportant. The “God” bit, that is. We produced currency for decades without it and didn’t sink into the sea.
This is not uncommon. It actually happens a lot, and only drives up the values for the collectors (like myself, once upon a time).
Calling all numasists! Grab this up while you can!
The missing wording is apparently great fuel for both conspiracy theorists and dollar coin haters, as well as numismatists, if my junk email box this morning is any indication.
Well that’s one way to generate interest in a new dollar coin where previous coins failed — make some of them with errors. 🙂
Back when we didn’t put “In God We Trust” on coins, they actually had some value. Now that our coins are made out of common and generally worthless metals, all we can trust in is God, because our currency is irredeemable for anything else.
I seriously doubt that god would condone being put on currency anyway.
Separation of Church and Reality… or something like that…
Those coins are going to drive the coin collectors mad. Sucks that they are not silver or some other metal worth a damn.
The sooner people realize there is no God the better off the planet will be for future generations. My favorite argument is to use religion to prove it. One religion says, “If you aren’t of this religion you will go to hell.” Some other religion says, “If you aren’t of THIS religion you will go to hell.” Therefore everyone in the world will go to hell. QED.
By logic or by group think? I doubt it would ever be the former.
4 nailed it. It’s marketing. As somebody in an earlier post pointed out, the mint isn’t making these quarter-sized coins in expectation they’ll become common in people’s change pockets. These coins are supposed to be taken out of circulation by collectors, leaving a dollar behind for whoever sells them. Let’s see… I guess that would be the government.
Of course, it’s absolutely unimportant. The “God” bit, that is. We produced currency for decades without it and didn’t sink into the sea.
Truer words were never spoken.
The original words were “In Gold We Trust” . There was a typo just over 100 years ago where the L was dropped and no one noticed.
What really is pathetic that the state is god to most and they really do trust and believe them, just as the crap of believing in the “democratic” process.
That said, I got one of those coins, whattaya bid ?
#13, I heard that there were over 50,000 of those coins minted, so they aren’t as rare as you might think…
How about $5 Canadian? Our $5 bills are really pretty.
Hey guys, I think the point is moot anyway. Snopes says that this story isn’t true.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/dollarcoin.asp
I’m surprised this got by John C!
Too bad it’s not true. I’d love to get money without the godvertisement on it! Coinage has had it for quite some time. Bills got it simultaneously with running out of gold, so to speak, and with McCarthyism.
1963 was the first year of bills with the godvertisement. It was also the year they removed half of the following message:
This note is legal tender for all debts public and private and is redeemable in lawful money at the United States Treasury or at any Federal Reserve Bank.
Actually if you read at the very end of the snopes article. The second to last paragraph says there were some coins that were missing the side inscription but that it wasn’t an intended change (ie removing the slogan)
#15 Snopes says that this story isn’t true.
Actually, your link to the Snopes story says it is true. Near the end of the article it says some dollars were discovered with the edge inscription missing as a result of minting errors.
An announcement on the front page of the U S Mint site.
http://tinyurl.com/24th7t
Also, the bit about the “In God etc” being upside down on some is part of the minting process. Google if curious!!
These coins are for those that “God” doesn’t trust. They will most likely be used for donations to Pat Robertson, Fallwell, Dobson, and the like. So if you come across one, please send it to someone truly in need of the money. Save the “In God We Trust” coins for yourself.