I picked up a coin magazine yesterday and there was an article on the new $1 coin.

Seems a person "claimed" to have found one of them mixed in with a sealed bag of the new state quarters back around September of '99.

It was NOT an error.... just the regular $1 coin with the woman and papoose on it.

According to the article, he put it on eBay (last Fall)and the bids got up to around $1,000 (!!!) before the Secret Service stepped it and stopped the auction. They now have the coin. They are investigating to determine how he actually acquired the coin prior to it's release date. The article said that if they can find no wrong doing that they will return the $1 coin to him.

Looks like he will lose $999. on the deal. But then again, would anyone other than a prankster bid a $1 (soon to be released) coin up that high?

Any stories about casino chips getting unofficially "released" early... and problems that evolved from it?

Steve in Albuquerque