HAIL TO THE CHEF!

Oops...meant to say "Chief!" Errors are common, but generally not for the US Mint. Because they rarely make a mistake, their recent mishap is causing the value of some newly minted - yet flawed - coins to skyrocket.

The United States is honoring our nations Presidents by issuing Dollar coins, which feature their images. And as a side bonus, the US also saves money, because coins stay in circulation longer than paper currency - yet it remains to be seen if we will adapt to clunky coins instead of paper in our pockets. The new coins will feature four different Presidents each year, appearing in the order in which they served, beginning in 2007 with Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison.

The Dollar coins will be unique in design with each having the name and likeness of the President, the term of office, and a number indicating the order in which the President served. Additionally, the standard inscriptions traditionally found on the face of coins have been moved to the edge. The inscriptions "E Pluribus Unum (out of many, one)", "In God We Trust", the year of minting, and the mint mark have all been moved to the edge of the coin.

And with any big change to design...there is always room for error. Sure enough, some of these new coins will quickly come off the market, because the US Mint made a mistake. The value of these rare coins is now up 5000%, and still climbing.

Here's what happened.

The U. S. Mint placed a significant, but undisclosed, amount of new dollar coins into circulation without the inscriptions around the edge. These $1 coins are now worth $50 a piece to collectors! That's right, fifty times the actual face value. Obviously, something went wrong during the six-step process to allow this to happen.

Here's the procedure:

Blanking - The U.S. Mint buys strips of metal rolled in a coil that are about 13 inches wide and 1,500 feet long. The coil is fed through a blanking press which punches out round disks called blanks.

Annealing, Washing and Drying - The blanks are then heated in an annealing furnace to soften them and then run through a washer and dryer.

Upsetting - The blanks go through an upsetting mill to raise the edges of the coins.

Striking - Coins go to the coining press and they are stamped with the designs and inscriptions.

Inspecting - Press operators use magnifying glasses to spot-check struck coins.

Counting and Bagging - Coins are dropped into bags, sealed shut, and held in a vault until shipped to the Federal Reserve.

Nabbing one of these could turn a tidy profit for you with an even greater price tag in the future. But be careful - The US Mint has issued a warning on their website that scam artists are actually grinding the rims of Presidential $1 Coins to remove the inscriptions, then marketing them as US Mint "error coins".

In Philadelphia or Denver, you can actually take a fascinating tour of a US Mint location. To learn more - or take a virtual tour - click here: Tour the US Mint