Yes you should have 12 volt power at both terminals of the coil. In at the + and out to ground Via circuit breaker device from the - to complete the circuit,"Check this wire is not broken or disconnected".the coil terminals are the ends of the primary coil winding that surrounds and energizes the core. The HIGH VOLTAGE spark to the plugs is induced electicity captured by the secondary winding passed on to distributor by the high tension cable and then jumping the plug gap to grounnd.The low voltage 12 volt circuit has to be broken by a circuit breaker "See my previous posting" to collapse the magnenetic field for the spark to occur. It would seem that this is not happenning with your ignition control system,given you are saying that your coil works fine on bench test.
Regards Bill N.Z