Shifted-Edge Dollars Worth Search

By Ken Potter


Long after most folks have given up searching the 2007-dated George Washington Presidential dollars for the well-known smooth-edge "Godless dollars" a few die-hards are still at it obtaining what BU rolls can still be had from banks and still finding errors. One of those searchers is Mike Bozynski of Michigan.

He has reported what I refer to as a shifted edge inscription error. These shifts seem to be the result of at least two different causes (though both may be closely related).

We've previously discussed the first "type" where the shift is less pronounced, leaving a gap of space of greater or lesser degree between the mintmark and E PLURIBUS UNUM. Aside from EPU being shifted, there does not seem to be any other discernible variation to the edge of these coins; there is no rim damage and the entire inscription is present. There is also no explanation to why all the ones I've seen so far involve the spacing between the date and EPU and no spaces elsewhere (though other variations of this theme may be out there that I just have not seen yet).
The second "type" is those like Bozynski found. On his coin the date starts out normally but a deep gash obliterates the "7" of date, the mintmark and a small portion of the large space that is normally found between the date and E PLURIBUS UNUM.

At first this gash appears to be little more than post-mint damage that occurred to the coin after it was processed and left the mint. But upon closer inspection we see that immediately following the gash where there should be considerably more space preceding E PLURIBUS UNUM, the motto, IN GOD WE TRUST follows, completely skipping most of that large space and all of E PLURIBUS UNUM!

As we go along the rim further we see even more damage but none of it seems to affect the placement of the inscription. Since E PLURIBUS UNUM is completely missing, when we get to the end of IN GOD WE TRUST there is a large area of smooth edge in which we find yet another edge gash. In fact over 50 percent of the edge is smooth, so much so that at first glance Bozynski thought he found a smooth edge Washington.

Interestingly, he noticed that the scrapes repeated themselves in the same exact rim locations on four other examples of the error type that he found. All five were found in the same roll of Philadelphia minted Washington dollars.

Ken Potter is the official attributer of world doubled dies for the Combined Organizations of Numismatic Error Collectors of America and for the National Collectors Association of Die Doubling. He also privately lists other collectible variety types on both U.S. and world coins in the Variety Coin Register. More information on either of the clubs or how to get a coin listed in the Variety Coin Register may be obtained by sending a long, self-addressed envelope with 58 cents postage to P.O. Box 760232, Lathrup Village, MI 48076 or by contacting him via e-mail at KPotter256@aol.com. An educational image gallery may be viewed on his Web site at www.koinpro.com