MORE ON THE "BACK DOOR" SAN FRANCISCO PROOFS

Here is a personal recollection that your E-Sylum readers might find interesting. The discussion has centered on the 1970 dated issues but this was certainly not just a one year event. In 1975 I worked in a small San Francisco coin shop just four blocks from the Old Mint. One day, just after opening, in walked a guy in his 20's with some coins to sell. He pulled out a baggie and proceeded to dump about 30 coins onto the counter. I couldn't believe it. They were all Proof coins from San Francisco and all mint errors.

Among the highlights were TWO Bicentennial Ike Dollars struck on Dime planchets. Nearly identical, both appeared to have been perfectly positioned on the anvil die so the dual 1776-1976 date would appear on the struck coin. An impossible error unless purposely created. The most remarkable piece was a Bicentennial Quarter struck 4 times with each succeeding strike moving progressively further off-center towards one o'clock resulting in a very distorted planchet.

Other coins included three Bicentennial Quarters struck on Cent planchets, a couple of double struck Bicentennial Halves and off medal errors of coins from the Philippines, Nepal and Panama. These were being struck at the San Francisco Mint at that time. Yes, these were all Proof issues and there were others that I don't remember given the short time I had to view them.

Curiously the coins were slightly wet. Later stories about this "extra-curricular" activity led me to figure out why. These midnight experiments did not just walk out of the Mint, they got a ride. Mint personnel had to go through a metal detector, so the story goes that the booty was dumped into the oil reservoir of the forklifts. When taken to a non-secure area for maintenance, the oil pan was removed along with the coins. The loot was washed and rinsed off and in this case not completely dried. Obviously there was a small organization of employees involved in this caper.

The seller didn't have a value in mind and obviously just wanted to get out of the store with whatever I offered. Just then, the owner walked in and took over the transaction. Five minutes and one phone call later he was out the door to sell the hoard to an Oakland dealer who handled errors. Everyone knew how illegal this was!

As a side note, years later Fred Weinberg used the multi-struck Bicentennial Quarter in one of his display ads. I instantly recognized it and wrote to him relating this story. He may not remember me but I'm sure that he remembers the coin. There is an old adage concerning modern Proof coins: "If it wouldn't fit in the hole in the holder it was not legally issued". I'm sure this has given the many owners of this piece pause.

I first went to work for Numismatics, Ltd., of Beverly Hills, in January of 1973. Starting that year, I believe in the fall, there was always a great coin show at the Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco. Over the years, I purchased numerous Proof Error coins from the San Francisco Mint, and none of them came from the ‘oil pan’ group, as far as I could tell.

The source of the story that Mint employees were taking errors out in the fork-lift oil pans came from Arnie Margolis, who wrote about it in his publication “Error Trends Coin Magazine”. He in turn probably heard it from a person at the Mint that Arnie knew - but considering the many many hundreds of dramatic proof errors I bought that came from the SF Mint, I never saw any coins that looked like they had oil on their surfaces, or had been cleaned or dipped to get the oil off, so I assume that they were wrapped in plastic, and well-protected.

That being said, I did buy Proof errors at the Jack Tar show from people who came up to my table and asked if I purchase error coins, which of course I did. The coins were mostly choice or gem, and were of the types mentioned in the article you referenced.

One of the best groups of Proof and BU San Francisco Mint errors came from the State of California back in 2002 (I believe), where a safe deposit box of errors, up in San Francisco, was auctioned off down here in Southern Calif. as ‘abandoned’ safe deposit box contents. It was stated that the State of Calif. had contacted the Treasury Dept. in Washington, asked about their selling the coins legally, and were given the green light to do so. I purchased the entire group from the local dealer who bought it, and it consisted of about 275 dramatic Mint Error coins - some proof, some BU’s.