Mulemania Continues!

By Ken Potter

Mules' involving the Canadian, September and November 1999 Millennium 25 cent pieces have become a hot item for newspaper, radio and television audiences in Canada! Additionally, another lesser publicized mule has also been identified on the commemorative $2 Millennium Nunavut coin. Mule, is collector parlance for an error coin that has been struck with mismatched dies -- not intended to be used together.

Small quantities of the September, "Canada Through a Child's Eye" and November, "The Airplane Opens the North," coins were reported found in some of the Royal Canadian Mint's special proof-like, "Souvenir Sets," mated with a regular obverse die intended for use with the standard caribou design reverse.

The caribou design was not struck for circulation in 1999, but was issued in some of the standard numismatic sets. It's obverse does not include the denomination which is traditionally found on the reverse surrounded by the antlers of the caribou, while the denomination was moved from the reverse to the obverse for the Millennium coins in order to make room for the commemorative motifs.

The result of this muling was a small quantity of September and November coins struck with the larger bust obverse bearing no denomination or what the general press in Canada has been referring to as the, "Missing 25-cent coins."

Reports indicate that the errors are being found in some sets delivered by the mint in from August through December. These sets are comprised of Proof-Like examples of the 12 Millennium 25-cent coins (and a specially designed medal) inserted into an oval-shaped cardboard holder described by the RCM as, "a reproduction of an original Thomas Bowen chart published in 1785" -- simply referred to buy collectors as a map of Canada.

It appears that the discovery was first reported to the public via two eBay auctions which began within minutes of each other on December 18, 1999 by Colonial Acres Coins of Kitchener, Ontario.

Soon after the first auctions appeared, Canadian radio and television audiences were greeted with reports on the errors described as Millennium 25-cent pieces missing the denomination -- 25-cents. The first report of a radio broadcast came in to me on December 21st from Laurie Alain who heard it on an Ottawa radio station the same day. She found specimens missing other design elements but it is unclear if she found any of the mules. Gary Blenkhorn, of Ontario, who said he is not a collector but traditionally buys a few sets every year to give out as Christmas gifts, said he first learned of the errors while watching television. Blenkhorn, whos sets arrived in September, said:

"We first heard of the errors ... when we were watching the news about one or two days after Christmas. We thought we should check them just in case. To our astonishment we found that two of our three sets contained the coins like they were talking about. The September and November coins had the "25-cents" missing under the Queen's bust. We had to remove the coins from the cardboard holder to see the Queen side, they came out very easily and we were able to put them back in. To my knowledge these have only been found on these two months. I have heard rumors about one set with October and November but I haven't heard for sure."

Todd Sandham of Colonial Acres Coins provided information on where they are being found. In an e-mail dated January 3rd he states: "... so far the mule quarters have only been found in the Royal Canadian Mint's Millennium Uncirculated Set. I have received confirmation from about 20 individuals who have found the mule 25's in the oval map of Canada holders. None of the 25's found were contained in the Christmas cover packaging. It would seem that the mule 25 was produced sometime in September (we had an unopened box of 40 maps that we had received in September and consequently found a handful of mule 25's in those sets).

We found a pretty good mix between sets containing both Sept and Nov. and others containing only one of the 25's (mules)."

Although it appears to have been known to "insiders" for months, word that a mule also exists on the $2 Nunavut coin came in right on the heels of the discovery of the September and November Millennium 25 cents mules.

This time the RCM included some $2 Nunavut Millennium mules into its standard seven-coin Uncirculated sets (referred to by collectors as Proof-Like sets). The $2 Nunavut piece was struck for circulation, Proof-Like sets and specimen sets on a standard, bimetallic, nickel-aluminum bronze planchet. The obverse and reverse dies used to strike these coins include a raised border (on the coin) that surrounds the inner core. The raised border aids in the funneling of metal into the interlocking mechanism used by the RCM to secure the outer ring and core. The planchet for the sterling silver version is of one-piece construction and contains a gold overlay to the central area normally occupied by the core, thus no interlocking mechanism or border is necessary. While the obverse used to strike the sterling silver version has a raised border around the core area, the reverse does not and it is speculated by noted Canadian numismatic researcher and error specialist, Patrick Glassford, to have been eliminated to create a more aesthetically pleasing appearance to the finished product.

The error, which was first brought to my attention via an educational Internet site managed by Glassford, is comprised of an obverse with the raised border around the inner-core area, mated to a silver-Proof-style design reverse without the border. Pascal Goovaerts of Montreal, Quebec, who first reported the error to Glassford, stated that the reverse die does not have a Proof finish, indicating that the die was improperly processed for Proof-Like production. Goovaerts said that he found one of the errors in a batch of 20 Proof-Like sets that he ordered directly from the RCM on June 18th. He discovered the variety shortly after receiving them and placed one up on eBay in July. He did not supply the results of his auction but noted that he sold two of the three examples he was able to uncover of this coin.

He stated that on November 20th , he met a spokesperson from the RCM at the Nuphilex coin and stamp show in Montreal, QC, who told him that the RCM control process found the wrong die in use and informed staff that mules could have been struck and that they decided to destroy many sets. Goovaerts believes that only a few sets were delivered to the public.

The original design of the $2 coin, introduced in 1996, shows an adult polar bear in early summer on an ice floe. It was struck for several months of 1999 on standard and silver planchets and included into early emissions of the RCMs, uncirculated, specimen and proof sets. None were produced for general circulation.

The Nunavut $2 coin, which was designed by the Inuit artist, Germaine Arnaktauyok, was struck in three metallic versions: 22-karat gold, sterling silver and standard metals. The gold version is comprised of a 22 karat gold inner core with 4.1 karat gold outer ring, the sterling silver version contains a 92.5% sterling silver outer ring and a 22-karat gold plated center; the standard planchet is comprised of an outer ring of nickel and an inner core of aureate aluminum - bronze.

While it is too early to predict the estimated rarity or ultimate value of any of the 1999 Mules, the pieces are currently enjoying a wide range of price-results on the Internet-based eBay auctions.

Prices have ranged from $112 to $455 each, in auctions I've observed for the 25 cent varieties. No auction results are currently available to me for the $2 variety. Glassford notes wide swings in price but believes they will settle in around the $125 to $250 level for the individual 25 cent pieces and the $75 to $150 range for the $2 coin (with the later coin estimates somewhat low in this author's opinion). At the time of this writing, Glassford estimates that at least 5,000 to 10,000 of each of the 25 cent mules were produced.

Millennium 25 cent pieces photographed, courtesy of Bob Fowkes of Michigan. The images of the $2 coin illustrated here are courtesy of Patrick Glassford. Glassford also provided much of the technical data for the report on the $2 coin. Collectors wishing to visit his educational website dedicated to Canadian error coins and test-tokens may find him at: http://tor-pw1.netcom.ca/~err/index.html. Goovaerts, who also provided technical information, has an educational website that may be accessed here: http://www.dsuper.net/~pillarde/.

Ken Potter is the official attributer and lister of world doubled dies for the Combined Organizations of Numismatic Error Collectors of America and for the National Collector's Association of Die Doubling. He privately lists U.S. doubled dies and other collectable variety types on both U.S. and world coins in the Variety Coin Register. He also pens Coin World's Varieties Notebook column found in the first issue of every month.

For more information on either of the clubs, or on how to get a variety listed in the Variety Coin Register, send a self addressed 99-cent (US) stamped long envelope to Ken Potter, PO Box 760232, Lathrup Village, MI 48076-0232, U.S.A.

He may be contacted via e-mail at: Kpotter256@aol.com. An Educational Image Gallery may be accessed on his website at: http://www.uscents.com/potter/.

In January the Royal Canadian Mint estimated the number of 1999 mules struck at a minimum of 50,000 combined, much more than earlier estimates of up to 10,000 each.

"We have an idea what happened and are saying the number is at least 50,000 combined," RCM official Pierre Morin said. "The coins were struck in July."

He said that about 350,000 September and November coins were struck during the period when the error occurred. Production at that time went straight from the September coin to the November coin, with the October coins being struck at a different time.

According to dealer Ian Laing of Winnipeg's Gatewest Coins, the higher mintage hasn't had much impact.

"Since the Mint gave out those numbers we've been telling customers," he said. "Out of the first 16, only one decided not to go ahead. All that's happened is that we've dropped our buy price by $25 down to $125."

BE

February 8 to 21, 2000 issue of Canadian Coin News