Man Turns $1 into $10,000

Andrew Moores finds himself $10,000 richer today, thanks to a single coin in his pocket change and the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS). Moores, a resident of Lakewood, CO, is a coin collector and intended to check the Sacajawea dollar that he got in change at a later date when he had time.

Thanks to a friend of his who tipped him off about the PCGS finder's reward, he didn't accidentally spend it instead.

PCGS offered the $10,000 reward in early March 2007 to the first person who discovered a Sacajawea dollar with edge lettering. This is an error coin that is not supposed to exist.

This is the first year that the Mint is producing the Presidential Dollar series. The dollar coins are the same size as the Sac, but with an entirely different twist: they have lettering on the edge of the coin, consisting of edge-incused inscriptions of the year, "E Pluribus Unum," "In God We Trust" and the mint mark. "Incused" means that the lettering is sunken into the surface, rather than raised.

The coins are the same size, weight and composition as the Sac Golden dollars. So why am I talking about the Presidential Dollars when he found a Sac error coin? Because it should not have happened in the first place. The minting process of the Sac and Prexy dollars is a separate operation, with the coins minted and ejected into huge bins. Somehow, this Sac dollar got mixed in with the Prexy dollars and had the edge inscription applied to it.

Mr. Moores not only has the PCGS finder's reward of $10,000, but also the value of the coin itself, which at the current time is undetermined. The question gnawing at collectors and the public is how many of these were accidentally produced? Obviously, the law of supply and demand comes into play, as the more that are found, the less valuable it becomes.

Some cynics in the coin collecting community even go so far as to suggest that the Mint intentionally did this to generate collecting excitement and sell more products. Others accuse the Mint of poor quality control in their production processes.

The Presidential Dollars have had their share of errors in this, their first year of the series. Instead of the normal edge lettering, the first Washington dollar coin had a blank edge. That sent collectors and speculators scrambling to their banks to buy rolls of the coin and search for the error. It almost seems the normal coin is scarcer than the error coins in that series!

But, back to the Sacajawea Dollar. If you have any, be sure to check the edge of the coin. If it has lettering, save it. Try not to put a fingerprint on it. Instead, handle it on the edge only. If you find it in a Mint sealed roll, carefully place it back in the roll without scratching it. Then get a coin holder for it until you can contact a coin dealer. You can also send me a message and I can help point you in the right direction. Also, if you take it to a coin dealer, get an appraisal but don't sell it until you talk to at least three different dealers. Do a Google search for the larger coin dealers rather than your corner coin dealer.

Be sure to check out some of the online resources I've provided, even if you don't have a rare Sac dollar. The Collector's Universe is a great forum to post any questions you might have and you'll get the straight scoop and suggestions from the friendly members.

Happy hunting and good luck!