(Reprinted from the C.N. Journal, September, 2002. Used with permission.)

While rather hard to credit today, for some 20 years most Canadian collectors were not entirely sure a 1921 50-cent existed – even though everyone knew someone who knew someone who had one. Inquiries to the Ottawa Mint didn’t help after 1929; their records showed that although 206,328 pieces had been struck that year, “none” had been released and “all” (or perhaps nearly all) had been melted down in 1929. We now know that although none were shipped out to the banks, visitors to the Mint could buy one at face if they so desired during the period 1921-9. Apparently, some 75 did so during this time, but most later spent them since the majority are well worn. After all, 50 cents was a fair sum in the 1920s, many daily wages being only a dollar or so; then, of course, there were the “Dirty Thirties” when any money was hard to come by.

Recently, a couple of issues have been created at the Royal Canadian Mint which are bound to become elusive numismatic “Loch Ness Monsters”, rumoured to have been seen but rarely proven. In early 2001 the Natural Legacy commemorative 25-cent dated 2000 turned up struck in copper, followed almost immediately by copper 1998-dated 10-cent pieces. Purporting to be mint errors, they have since determined to be manufactured concoctions by an “unscrupulous Winnipeg employee”. They are, therefore, counterfeits under the law and have been seized by the authorities to the greatest possible extent – and will continue to be illegal to own by private persons.

Despite government efforts, it seems unlikely they got them all. Dealers who bought them initially did so in good faith and it is quite possible that some passed into the hands of walk-in customers, identity unknown, for cash and are now untraceable. Now that the rest have been seized and destroyed, any survivors are distinctly rare. Is it part of human nature for the overlooked possessor to voluntarily come forward that such a potential treasure might be confiscated? Doubtful.

This wasn’t the first hanky-panky at the Mint. Rumour has it that some years ago, the dies for a 25-cent and a dollar coin, dates unknown, were used to strike one or more coins in gold, using the planchets of some foreign issue being coined there. “Their present whereabouts are unknown”.

All of the above are illegal to own, but that will not stop some well-heeled collector descending in the middle of the night to his basement vault to gloat over his treasure. Even if they can never be exhibited.

But Canadian “Loch Nesses” do not have to be concoctions; they can as easily be mint errors. One largely unknown today is a variety of the silver $10 Olympic coins of Series III, 1974, showing lacrosse players. The following was reported in the CNJ issue of February, 1975.

Scheduled for release on January 20, 1975, this coin had just entered standard production with almost 48,000 struck (less than a half-day’s production), when an eagle-eyed inspector at the satellite mint in Hull noticed the reverse contained an error: one of the lacrosse players had two right feet! On one of the player’s left foot, the big toe was shown on the outside of the foot instead of the inside.

Production was promptly halted and a corrected die later made. Since this meant returning all the way to the primary-model stage, it seems probable that this was the reason the intended release date had to be re-scheduled to April 16, the date now quoted in standard works.

So far as we know, none of the offending pieces left the Mint and all were destroyed. Probably. However, we know that a small pre-production strike was made for the purpose of providing sub-contractors with examples for photography, advertising and the like. We presume that all of them were recovered as well. Again, probably. Still, coins issues that have been officially pronounced as entirely destroyed have a disquieting habit of one or more later showing up. Collectors would do well to examine any of this issue in their possession on the off-chance the player may be shown to be “pedally challenged”.

Because it’s so much older, there should be even more “Nessies” in the U.S. series.

Back in 1933, the Philadelphia Mint coined a total of 445,500 $20 gold pieces. Not only were none of these released, we are told that all were melted down when the U.S. went off the Gold Standard that year. The fact remains, any mint employee, white collar or blue, would have been only too aware of the future rarity of these coins when the melt order came through, and it would be easy to substitute an older, common-date piece for one of these. Both the count and weight would have been correct and, so far as the U.S.
government was concerned, “all” would have been destroyed. Yet rumour (again) has it that such a coin was in the huge King Farouk collection at the time of its sale in 1954 – but that the 1933 double eagle was acquired by the U.S. government before it went on the block. If so, where there is one coin which “could not exist”, there may be more.

[ Editor: At nearly the same time as this article, written some 10 month previously, appeared, a genuine 1933 $20 showed up and was auctioned off for millions of dollars – but only because it could be legitimately held. It turns out that U.S. agents had located one or more over the years and, without publicity, seized them. One was quietly residing in the collection of the Smithsonian Institute, being “government property”. But on this one hangs a tale:

Some time in the late 1940s, the required export permit for gold coin was applied for from the U.S. government. A low-level functionary, consulting his list of “common” – and therefore ineligible – U.S. gold coins found that 1933 $20 pieces were not on it. Therefore, it was presumably a rare collectors’ piece under the law and the permit granted. Only after the coin had left and the permit circulated “upstairs” did the oversight come to light and the offending coin pursued. But it now resided in the collection of King Farouk of Egypt and the U.S. was not going to upset a valuable ally from the Middle East over such a small matter.

But in the early 1950s, Farouk was overthrown by Nasser and a republic proclaimed. Part of the loot was Farouk’s world-famous coin collection which was put on the block. The U.S. immediately claimed the 1933 $20 but it was found to have been “withdrawn from the auction”, sold privately and its present whereabouts “unknown”. The Egyptians weren’t stupid.

Then in mid-2002 it showed up, having been “residing” in England. The owner, after extensive legal research, had determined that the piece was legal to hold and to dispose of as a result of the export license having been granted – in error or not. The U.S. government had to agree. For this coin, anyway. Therefore the multi-million-dollar bid.

Shortly thereafter, a woman submitted a number of these coins to the U.S. mint for verification as to authenticity. They were not only declared authentic, but seized as being in “unauthorized hands” and therefore illegal to own. It seems that her father, a Philadelphia jeweller, had managed by one means or another to put away a whole roll of them. Since mint employees in 1933 were allowed to buy current coin at face, it seems most likely that the jeweller arranged for this to be done, replacing the 1933s with some other date pieces when the call-in was ordered. At this writing, the daughter is suing for the return of her coins – but it seems unlikely she will be successful.]

Composite illustration of the

U.S. 1964-D Peace Dollar.

316,076 were struck;
supposedly none survived.

The same could be said for the U.S. 1964 Peace Dollar, which, except for the date, was identical in all respects to those struck 1921-35. Legislation of August 3, 1964, authorized the mintage of 4.5-million of them, and 316,076 actually were coined at the Denver Mint. Their purpose was to redeem Silver Certificates, the Treasury’s stockpile of Morgan and Peace Dollars having been depleted, and the government sometimes forced to redeem these certificates with silver crystals if the tenderer insisted on silver. Special legislation allowed the U.S. to coin all denominations with a frozen date and no mint mark since, as in Canada, there was so much hoarding of silver coin by the bag and roll at the time. The dollars were struck beginning May 15, but on May 25, the Treasury announced it had decided against the silver dollar issue and ordered all those already coined to be melted. The Guidebook follows the conventional belief when it says none were preserved or released for circulation.

All the same, rumours persist of several survivors – and they could possibly be true. At the time, Mint employees in Denver were allowed to purchase up to two of the new dollars at face, and the Mint Director says that many did avail themselves of this opportunity. Ordered to return them for refund 10 days later, we have to wonder if all did so – or would there have been a few instances of normal human behaviour? Like the 1933 Double Eagle, all would have known that any surviving dollars would become rare and pricey. Again, an earlier common-date Peace Dollar could have served as that turned in, keeping the count right. The fact that they are illegal to own means that any present owners will continue to possess them in deepest secrecy. Don’t look for them in pricelists or auctions.

In fact, 1964 was quite a year for U.S. “Loch Nesses”. Dealer Lester Merkin reported that he had personally examined two specimens of 1964-dated Franklin half-dollars even though they were supposedly coined only up until 1963. Merkin said that they belonged to, or at least were in the possession of, someone high up in the Federal Reserve System. They have not re-surfaced to the present day – if they still exist.

Writer/dealer David Bowers personally examined an authentic 1964 Kennedy half-dollar in gold – as well as one struck in white metal without a collar. Both belonged to the same man (name not given). Neither has shown up since.

In August, 1974, three proof sets of the 1776-1976 Bicentennial coins, consisting of the silver-clad quarter, half and Eisenhower dollar, were made up three years ahead of time, specifically for exhibition at the 1974 A.N.A. Convention in Florida. Silver-clad coins were produced only at the San Francisco Mint and collectors were quick to point out that the exhibited coins had no mintmark. Reportedly, the no-mintmark coins were returned to the San Francisco Mint and destroyed. Maybe.

Also in 1974: Consideration was given to changing the composition of the Lincoln cent from bronze to aluminum and, from regular dies, an example in aluminum was struck for each member of the Congressional Committee. Although remaining the property of the U.S. government, the number returned was five or six pieces shy of those distributed. Ken Bressett reported that he had seen one, the owner having received it in change! So this is not really a “Nessie”.

No doubt this only skims the surface of these shadowy, elusive issues. What are they? Variously, they may be mint errors, patterns, concoctions or the survivores of legitimate issues. The writer has personally examined one each of the 1964 and 1967 5-cent pieces with totally upset reverses; nor are they “mint errors” in the sense the dies rattled loose since there are no reports of others with degrees of rotation between 0 and 180. Someone put one of the dies in the press completely rotated. An error – but manufactured or unintentional?

The Numismatic X-Files.

Composite illustration of the

August