Mule Coins.

Here's an interesting section that no-one has thought of discussing.It is about Mule Coins (& Mule Traders' Tokens).I know that there is the famous 1 Penny (1d.) mule coins from British West Africa.Can anyone else think of any other mule coins? A mule coin is a coin struck with 2 dies that do not normally go together.

 

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There are numerous modern quarters which are really mules. There is the scarce 1964 quarter with the "clad" reverse and '65 to '72 issues with the type "b" reverse. There are rare '74 quarters with the reverse of 1973 and the very scarce one with the reverse of '72. All of the '77 to '84 quarters (except '82-P) appear with type "d" reverses though some are scarce. There are also some '65 to 71 coins with "proof" reverses. All of these except the '64 issue will prove to be rare or very rare in unc.

 

Here is a list of some very well-known mule coins that I can think of off the top of my head right now;

Newfoundland 1871H Canada mule 10c.
Canada 1973 silver $10 with the 1973 Map reverse.
Canada 1973 25c. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Centenary commemorative with the large portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.
New Zealand undated 2c. with Bahama Islands 5c. obverse.(Known to have been struck in 1967,as these were found in change at the time of the change over to decimal currency.)
New Zealand 2000 $5 medal-coin with Solomon Islands obverse.(10 known in Unc. sets only.)

Here's a list of a few Mule Traders' Tokens;

Montreal 1837 City Bank Front View 1d. with Habitant obverse.(Boulton & Watt.)
Montreal 1837 City Bank Front View 1d. with Habitant obverse.(Proof strike by W.J. Taylor.)
Wellington(New Zealand) Lipman Levy 1d. with laureate head obverse & inscription,'WELLINGTON & ERIN GO BRAGH'.
Christchurch(New Zealand) Hall 1/2d. with obv./rev. of Sydney(N.S.W.) Hedberg 1/2d.
Christchurch - as above,but 1d.

 

There's a pretty neat Canadian mule from recent times with the obverse of a current coin and the reverse of a medal.

 

Here's another example of a mule coin - the obverse
of a New Zealand 1981 50c. coin muled with the reverse of a Canadian Voyageur $1.There are 6 pieces known,but all of them turned up in Canada.

 

I have got the details of those very rare British West Africa 1d. mule coins.

1936H. Obverse of East Africa 10c.Reverse of British West Africa 1d.

1945H. Obverse of King Edward VIII British West Africa 1d.

1956H. Obverse of King George VI British West Africa 1d.

 

Australian Mule

A small number of 1916 halfpennies were struck with the obverse die for an Indian quarter anna. The existence of these coins was not known until the end of June 1965 when Cecil Poole found one in Adelaide. The discovery was announced in the Adelaide Advertiser on 14/7/65:
Biggest Find in Coin History
An authority on coins has hailed the Adelaide discovery of an incorrectly minted 1916 halfpenny as the biggest find in the history of Australian coinage.
The halfpenny is minted on the obverse side like an Indian halfpenny of the same period. It was found by Mr. C. C. Poole of Norma Street, Mile End, while searching for another coin in his collection. He noticed that the obverse side had an English language inscription around the edge instead of the usual Latin inscription. The chain around the King's neck also showed an elephant.
Authentic
Mr D. H. Skinner, author of the Australian Commonwealth Coinage Guide said yesterday he had no doubt the coin was authentic.
Mr Skinner said the 1916 bronze Australian coins were minted at Calcutta. Obviously, some Australian halfpennies had been minted with the Indian obverse die.
He said the rare Australian 1930 penny had been discovered soon after it was minted. "Now we have a coin, minted nearly half a century ago, just being discovered as a collector's item."
Mr Skinner valued the halfpenny at at least £150.
In the 10th edition (1976) of Renniks4b the whole of page 8 is devoted to the the authenticity the mule halfpenny. The tone of the article is somewhat defensive, suggesting that Skinner must have received quite a bit of negative feedback as a result of his endorsement. Support for such a conjecture is lent by the long string of articles and letters appearing in Australian Coin Review from November 1965 until the issue was finally settled in January 1967 after the coins had been authenticated by the British Museum and Spink & Son. (Apparently an earlier authentication June 1966 by the Royal Australian Mint did not satisfy numismatists.)
It is not clear whether the striking of these coins was deliberate or accidental. According to Myatt and Hanley16, about 250 of these coins were struck of which 60 or so were given away and the rest were included with the production mintage. If this assertion is correct then the mixing of dies may well have been deliberate but the authors do not give the source of their information. Furthermore, no specimen has turned up in India or England, so casting doubt on the authors' claim. All coins known have been pulled from circulation.
If the Myatt & Hanley assertion is true then there would have been 190 mules in amongst 3.6 million coins which translates to one in every 19,000. Given that the number of 1916 halfpennies still in existence is probably well below 100,000 and that the mule is not particularly noticeable then the chance that another will surface is quite low.
At least five of these extraordinary coins are known to exist, and the number may be as high as seven. As mentioned, the first publicised discovery was that of Cecil Poole. The second which came to light as a result of the press article was owned by Darcy Koschade of Fullarton, Victoria and was subsequently bought by Dion Skinner. In the November 1965 issue of ACR, Skinner revealed that Mr Koschade had inherited the coin upon the death of his brother, Robert, in January 1947. The recollection of the Koschade family was that Robert had found the coin in the period 1930 to 1933 and had regarded it as his prize possession.
The first four coins discovered were:
1. 8/7/65: Cecil Poole, West Richmond, SA announced his discovery at a meeting of the Numismatic Society.
2. 15/7/65: Darcy Koschade, Fullarton VIC showed his coin to Ian Muddle, coin auctioneer and dealer. Coin was subsequently offered at public auction on 27/7/65 and purchased by Dion Skinner for £80.
3. 25/7/65: C. H. Grause, Fitzroy, VIC.
4. Oct 1965: Adelaide Advertiser reported a coin discovered by Marie Calderwood. (Ref: ACR, Nov '65, Editorial)

One of the first two coins was advertised by Skinner in the March 1967 issue of Australian Coin Review for sale by tender and eventually fetched $1300. If the picture in the June issue accompanying the notice of sale is to be believed then it was the Poole coin which was sold but it is possible the magazine just used an earlier block without regard for the actual coin. Another specimen was advertised by E. P. Rose of Sydney in the October 1967 issue of the same magazine but no provenance was given. From the low-resolution picture it seems unlikely that it was either the Poole or the Koschade coin.

What status should be given to these coins? Should they be regarded as mainstream circulation issue or dismissed as errors? My inclination is to accept them as mainstream. In forming that opinion, I noted that these coins were produced in an official branch of the Royal Mint, were struck under contract from the Australian government, were released as part of the normal circulation issue, and did indeed circulate in Australia for very many years.
The quarter anna coin is similar in size to the Australian halfpenny and the obverses look quite similar but there are several differences. The quarter anna coin has
• a much simpler legend,
• a small elephant near the bottom of the bust
• no "pearls" in the band of the crown
Furthermore, the planchet for the quarter anna was somewhat thinner than that for the halfpenny. A halfpenny weighs around 5.6g whereas the quarter anna registers only 4.9g.

 

Rggoodie,thank you for mentioning about the Aussie 1916 1/2d. mule.There is one mule coin I forgot to mention - an Ascension 1978PM 1 Crown that has the obverse of a Manx 1 Crown medal-coin.

 

Another mule

Wouldn't you know it the land of Oz has another mule.
Thanks to bigfellas coin ahop in Australia for this article.
Not the link at the end with pictures of mules
For whatever reason, the 1930 penny escaped the gates of the mint to find itself into general circulation. The rarity of this coin has meant that its market value today is well over the $20000 mark for average circulation examples. The 1923 halfpenny, although not as famous as its big brother, is also a rare beastie. Today average circulation examples fetch over the $1500 mark. The special thing about these two coins that captured my imagination as a kid was that during the days of predecimal circulation coinage, a kid like me could find one of these coins in there pocket money and have something very valuable.
The 2000 $1 mule has the same appeal. If you are lucky enough, for the price of $1 a kid could find a very valuable coin in their pocket money!!!!
So what is this mule???? The 2000 circulation issue $1 coin was minted on a normal $1 blank. It was stamped on the reverse with a standard $1 reverse die. The obverse however was stamped with a 10 cent die. The result of this is that the Queens head is smaller than that which appears on a normal $1 coin. There is also a noticeable double rim on the obverse of the coin. Perfect examples will show the double rim around the total perimeter of the obverse of the coin. There have been three varieties found thus far. They are 1) Perfectly centred 2) Perfectly centred/tilted die (this looks as if it’s off centre but under magnification the place where the rim would be can be seen) 3) Off centre.
How did it happen???? Since the first mule was found, many collectors wrote to the mint asking about this unusual coin. It took over two years for the mint to explain the error. The official explanation is that during staff shortages in 2000, less experienced staff working at the mint failed to change the obverse die in one of the coin presses. As a result of this an unknown quantity of coins were minted with this wrong die. Once the mistake was discovered, production stopped. The mule coins were sorted out and destroyed…or so it was thought. Somehow, some coins escaped the sorting and quality control checks. Once the problem was discovered it was too late to recall the coins, which had already passed the point of no return.
So how many escaped??? This is the million dollar question. The mint claims it does not know. I find this difficult to believe. At worst I think it plausible that they would know a very rough ball park figure. One thing for sure is that unless the mint offers some help any estimates would only be guesses unless a detailed study is done by a dedicated collector.
One thing that is worth a mention is that 2000 $1 coins appear to be scarce in circulation. The most probable reason for this could be because not all the 2000 $1 coins minted have been released by the reserve bank. It also appears that more 2000 $1 coins have appeared in Western Australia and Queensland. Obviously, more mules have surfaced in these two states. The hit rate of mule finds in these areas could be two fold. The first is that there are more people dedicated to searching in these states. I know for a fact there is a very dedicated searcher in WA. The second reason could be because batches of coins containing the mules may have been released in these states and not others. Because of this batch theory it is possible that all the batches of coins containing mules could be out there. It is also possible that batches of coins containing mule are yet to come. This theory reforces the fact that determining the number out there would be very difficult.
What is one worth??? Like all coin sales the amount a seller will get will depend on three things – Grade, rarity and demand. The grade part of an example is easily determined by looking at the coin. The rarity part can not be determined at this stage as at best we only have some guesses at how many there might be. We do not know either how many have been found as a lot of collectors do not make public what their collection comprises of. It can be said with some degree of certainty that less than a few hundred have been found. Then there is demand. With the increased awareness of this coin through articles in the media and Coin and Banknote Magazine (CAB) and the fact that only low numbers have surfaced, demand for this coin is fairly high.
As reported by Ian McConnelly in the September issue of CAB, sale prices have increased steadily over the last 18 months. The first sale reported by Ian was in Feb 2003 of a F+ example that fetched $325 on ebay. Sales of average circulation examples (around the VF grade) peaked at the $1500 mark in July this year on ebay. Prices on ebay have levelled out at just under the $1000 mark. A recent Nobles Auction saw 2 example up for sale. One did not meet the reserve of $1250 and the other went for $900.
The possible reason for the decline of sale price could be three fold. The first is that a number of examples have appeared on ebay lately, possibly “flooding” the market. The second reason could be that many of the mules listed on ebay have been listed by non coin sellers with little or no feedback ratings. This scares buyers off. The 3rd reason is that because many people in the market for a mule are searching large quantities of change in the hope of finding their very own. One thing for sure is that as this rarity is a relatively new find, the price will increase as the number of mules found fall into the hands of serious collectors or investors that tend to keep rare coins for extended periods. The other thing is that the longer these coins remain “unfound,” the grade of the coins will decrease (due to being circulated) making high grade examples sell for a premium.
I have mentioned a few times in this article about people searching for mules. What are people actually doing. Through the Australian Coins, Tokens and Banknotes Forum there have been a few choice stories. There of cause will be the story of the collector that spent a “funny” looking coin only to find out later its true worth. There have also been stories of collectors who have gone to the local dish lickers to buy coins from the change booth. There are also stories of collectors that have spent a weekend at the casino searching through change.
Ken Skinner probably has done the most work in trying to gauge the number of mules out there. Ken is the founder of the Australian Coins, Tokens and Banknotes Forum and has set up a registry where some mule finds have been documented and images stored. Ken would like to hear from anyone that has a mule in their collection for the purpose of documenting this rarity. Ken can be contacted at secretsquirrel@aussiecoins.net and his registry can be found at http://www.conceptual.net.au/~squirrel/forumscans/1d10c00mules/1d10c00mule.html .
In years to come the 2000 $1 mule could become like the 1930 penny and be one of the gems of a collection. Time will tell if it reaches the lofty prices of the 1930 penny, but one thing is for sure, at the moment, if you are lucky enough, you could own one for a dollar!!!!
Before I finish this article I would like to thank Ken Skinner for the information he has provided, the suggestions he has made and for providing the images for this article.
References
Australian Coins, Tokens and Banknotes Forum http://www.aussiecoins.net/forum/
Australian Coin & Cab Note Magazine, September 2004

http://www.conceptual.net.au/~squirrel/forumscans/1d10c00mules/1d10c00mule.html .

 

Richard,that is a very interesting article on the Aussie $1 coin mule.

 

Regret

Thanks and Kia Ora
I lived on the North Island for 2 years and never made it to Wellington.
But I still have a handfull of circulated coinage and bankmotes from the 60's
Richard

 

There is some demand for New Zealand pre-decimal notes,especially for ones in the higher grades.There is a demand for the 50 Pounds note in any grade,as 50 Quid was a lot of money in those days.

 

I recently was searching through the 'junk box' of a coin dealer who I know.I was pleasantly surprised when I found a bimetal 10 Roubles dated 1992.I thought to myself,"It'll be just a crummy 1992 Russian 10 Roubles".I flipped it over.It turned out to be a mule coin of a Russian 10 Roubles dated 1992 paired with the obverse of a U.S.S.R. Government Bank coin,which was issued in 1991.This piece is very scarce,& it is listed at US$30 in VF in Krause.

 

Mules are one of my fav coins and will watch this thread with alot of interest.
I just attached a pic of one of the Australian $1/10c mules in another thread but will do it here too as i hadn't seen this thread then.
Here's another to add to the Aussie mule list.
1977 50c is meant to have the Jubilee reverse but there are a couple with the standard reverse.

 

Forgot to add Egypt has 5 mules which i was lucky to pick up a set of through an ebay seller. The details i can't get right now but as soon as i can i will post an update.

 

There are some euro coins (various brass denominations) with two denomination sides. I am not sure if these would count as mules.

There is also a 1967 (from die characteristics) US quarter with two reverses.

 

There are more recent Canadian Mules like

1999 $2 Nunavut Brilliant uncirculated obverse was mated with the proof reverse. (Proof coin did not have a ring around the inner-core)

1999 September and November quarters mated with a regular Caribou Twenty-five obverse. For 1999 and 2000 the denomination value was moved from the reverse to the obverse to make way for the new millenium images, legal tender but with no denomination.


2000 Medallion with a obverse of millenium quarter. This was inteded to be just a medallion with no currency value.

 

I've seen some of these euro coins with Cent missing and they get listed as a mule. I don't believe these are mules unless this was a deliberate design for a different year other than that they were struck on. Partial missing design doesn't make a coin a mule.
Could they also have been the dies for a trial strike? As i don't collect euros i have no idea and the dealers i've sent mail to asking why the coin is a mule have all refused to reply.
Australia too has many coins with different die pairings.
1984, 85 & 86 5c for example have coins with the older (up to 83) smaller reverse design and also the latter 84 onwards large reverse design.
None of these are mules either even though the dies were meant to be changed. In cases like this the mints will use remaining stock of dies alongside the new ones to save on cost. The design is the correct one it's just that the size is different. I believe the only way we get real mules from circulation coins with the correct denomination die pairing is if one of those designs was a commem struck in a standard year, the other way around, or if there's been a change in design by adding or subtracting something and then the die was used in the wrong year.
Sorry sometimes i babble on and hope it came out right

 

Thanks for the description on those Defiant7, i've heard a bit about then but didn't know what had gone wrong until now