Philadelphia Mint Error Omitting 'In God We Trust" Leads To Internet Rumors, Ebay

The Denver mint apparently produced none of the coins--whose omission of the motto "In God We Trust" stemmed from quality control failures and not mechanical error:

The properly struck dollar coins, bearing the likeness of the nation's first president, are inscribed along the edge with ''In God We Trust,'' ''E Pluribus Unum'' and the year and mint mark. The flawed coins made it past inspectors and went into circulation Feb. 15.
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About half were made in Philadelphia and the rest in Denver. So far the mint has only received reports of error coins coming from Philadelphia, mint spokeswoman Becky Bailey said.

Bailey said it was unknown how many coins lacked the inscriptions. Ron Guth, president of Professional Coin Grading Service, one of the world's largest coin authentication companies, said he believes that at least 50,000 error coins were put in circulation.
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''We take this matter seriously. We also consider quality control a high priority. The agency is looking into the matter to determine a possible cause in the manufacturing process,'' the statement said.

Guth said it appeared from the roughly 50 smooth-edge dollars he has authenticated that the problem had to do with quality control rather than a mechanical error.
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The coin's design has already spurred e-mail conspiracy theories claiming that the religious motto was purposely omitted. That rumor may have started because the edge lettering cannot be seen in head-on photographs of properly struck coins.