Expert: Ronald Fern - 5/18/2010

Question
I heard that if you find a dollar coin with no writing on the side (rim) that it is worth $100.. is that true? and if so where can you take it to change it in?

Thank you..

Answer
Hi Jessica:

Thanks for your question.

You can not change it in. The mint would only give you a dollar. It needs to be sold to a dealer or collector for you to get any additional money. It is difficult to answer your question without a photo of your coin or seeing the coin, but I'll try. If you want to ask a follow-up question by providing photo of the coin, or more of a description, I'll modify the answer, if required. It could be altered or real. Let's look at the possibilities.

The edge lettering proved to be a challenge to produce during the striking process partly because of the coins' three layer, manganese-brass clad composition.  So the mint devised a two part system that would simplify the striking process and this explains the three types of errors.  The process first involves striking the obverse and reverse on conventional presses and then the coins are moved to a second station where they are fed into an edge lettering machine the mint devised specifically for the Presidential dollars. The mint stated before they produced the coins that they would feed the coins into the edge lettering press as they came, they would not attempt to feed them in all face up.

Genuine coins with no edge lettering are mint errors.  The explanation is quite simple, they were struck with the obverse and reverse designs on the coin press and then they were shipped without going through the edge lettering stage.  Before the mint began producing the Presidential dollars there were discussions between numismatists that there would be some errors of this type and there was some speculation as to how much the coin would have to be shaved down to remove the lettering from the edge to produce a faked error coin.

There are fakes however and they can be easily made by turning down the edges.  These coins have been reported by buyers as well as the grading companies.  For more information on these coins and how they can be detected see the guide at:

http://reviews.ebay.com/Detecting-Washington-dollars-with-altered-rims-or-edges_...

When the Washington plain edge dollars first sold on eBay they sold for around $200 to $300.  As the market has moved up and down, they have sold for less than $50 raw to as high as $2,000 for an MS67 certified coin.  Currently they are selling for $50 to $75 raw or ungraded and for $100 or less graded MS64 to MS65 by PCGS or NGC.  Outside of eBay, dealers have been offering them for  around $100 retail.  The Adams plain edge dollars are much scarcer and are selling for around $400 raw and about $500 graded MS64 to $700 in MS65.

The Washington plain edge dollars were produced in large quantities.  Most of the coins were produced at the Philadelphia mint and the majority ended up in Florida.  There are at least 50,000 certified by the 4 main grading services and best estimates put the probable mintage at 100,000 to 200,000 or more.  The mintage of Adams plain edge dollars is much lower.

You may want to check ebay listings under US coins in the error category to see what these errors are going for. You may also want to check out these links on error coin values:
http://www.coinsite.com/html/USErrorPrices.asp
http://www.minterrornews.com/priceguide.html

If you live close to a local shop, they should offer an opinion as to it's value and if it is authentic at no charge. Always try and get at least two opinions and try and deal with PNG dealers if possible. Here's a link to find one in your area: http://www.pngdealers.com/dealersearch.php

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Thank You and Good Luck in your collecting.