Metal engraver: Mint knowingly issued coins with country spelled as ‘Chiie’ instead of ‘Chile’

Is it ‘Chiie’ or ‘Chile’? Mint issues bad coins

SANTIAGO, Chile — An engraver fired by Chile’s mint for an error that led to the release of 1.5 million coins featuring the country of “CHIIE” said Friday that his bosses deliberately covered up the mistake.

The error showed up on Chilean 50-peso pieces for the year 2009.

Engraver Pedro Urzua Lizana told The Associated Press he unknowingly left off the bottom part of the letter “l” when, in December 2008, he was hurriedly fixing a minor deformity in the original mold for making the dies to stamp out the coin.

The coins were released to the public last year but no one at the mint, including himself, knew about the error until a coin collector called in October to point it out, he said.

Once informed, officials at the mint fixed the stamp for future 50-peso pieces, but sent another batch of bad coins to the Central Bank without telling officials there of the error, Urzua said. Those coins never were released to the public, he said.

Various officials at the mint, including the head of Urzua’s department, asked “that we not say anything to anyone” about the error, he said.

The Central Bank, which issues the coins, did not learn of the error until it was reported by the newspaper El Mercurio in December, the same month that Urzua was fired, the engraver said. The head of his department was fired in January.

The press department at the mint said Friday that officials would not comment. No one could be reached at the Central Bank.

The 50-peso piece is 2.5 centimeters across, just under an inch — making it difficult to immediately see on the faulty coins that Chile is spelled “Chiie.”

Urzua is suing the mint for denying him severance pay — based on what he says is the mint’s false claim that he was doing work for other employers at his house, something forbidden in his contract.