Mishaps at the mint: When money printing goes wrong

A silver 2p coin that was accidentally made using the wrong metal is set to sell for £1,000 at auction. But currency mistakes seem to be 10 a penny, as these cases illustrate...

Seychelles

An unintentionally saucy 50 rupee note issued in 1968 depicts the Queen flanked by a ship and two palm trees.

Unfortunately, the leaves of the palm trees can be seen to spell the word ‘sex’ in a vertical line.

The Vatican

The Vatican learnt that the devil is in the detail last year when it was forced to withdraw commemorative medals - commissioned to celebrate Pope Francis’s papacy - that referred to Jesus as “Lesus”.

Chile

The general manager of the Chilean mint was dismissed in 2010 after it came to light that thousands of 50 peso coins (worth about 1p each) had “Chiie” stamped on them instead of “Chile”.

Canada

Printed in 1954, a batch of $1 notes featuring the Queen caused a stir when people noticed what appeared to be a devil-like creature lurking in her hair. The notes sell for around $3,000 (£1,770) today.

USA

A printing error at a currency factory, whereby too much ink was used to print notes, resulted in 30 million $100 bills being sent back by the Federal Reserve to be inspected for flaws.

UK

A sharp-eyed coin collector spotted a flaw in 2010. A £2 coin issued to mark the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot had the words “Pemember the fifth of November” engraved on the rim.