Leaderboard

Some mule eye candy

I think Peck has it, the lighting just makes it look more curvacious than it would normally appear. Wonderful what a nights sleep and a mug of tea will do

It is difficult or even impossible to prove whether a die pairing was intentional or not. In my opinion coins such as BB/TB, TB/BB and 1862 2 & 3+G are not truly mules as they were possibly struck deliberately. A true mule in my mind is something like the 1966 Jersey obverse with British penny reverse.

Afternoon guys, can anyone throw some light on this penny I dug at the weekend. I think I can make out a rose on the Kings breast, does anyone else see a rose or something else? The obverse at the crown area seems to be double struck and there appears to be something to the right of his head, which I suppose could be a result of the double strike. Also the mm looks vaugley like a rose. With these marks I can’t pin it down to a specific type. Can you help. Thanks Richard

I think you are spot on Richard with the description . I make it Spink 2131 (vacant see).

There was an article in the Australasian Coin and Banknote magazine a few years about mules which proposed the term 'hybrid' for so-called deliberate mules. I don't think there's any doubt about the obvious mules (dies from different countries or denominations and other combinations that should never have appeared together) but the rest, regardless of intent, aren't truly mules in my opinion - new designs get tried and possibly adopted; making coins is a business and it's not unreasonable to expect a new design to be gradually phased in , or possibly not and just used up to reduce waste.

A .pdf of Iain Dracott's articles was posted somewhere on this forum a little while ago I think.

The 1787 fakey chinese one clearly demonstrates a poor copy I know what you mean though, something just looks a little "off" with the one posted by @Madness

An excellent reference for halfpennies is Iain Dracott's article on Victorian bronze halfpennies as well as Malcolm Lewendon's cd with images based upon the Dracott article....

I agree, if there are transitional years then there may be "mules" that are just that - transitional. I think of a mule as being obv. and rev. dies intended for different usage that are paired.

Hopefully it was because he was being detained at the pleasure of Her Majesty... 😉

I tried to contact the seller but got the message that the seller was unable to respond. Presumably overwhelmed with messages! Frank

Bear in mind that the mint produced coins to satisfy the demand (orders) from the banking system and no one else. The clearing banks therefore hold the key to the issues for this or any other year. There was no apparent shortage of farthings or halfpennies, both of which were issued in plentiful numbers, so assuming there is a query surrounding the 1926 issues, what used pennies to the exclusion of the other base denominations? One possibility is that there may have been localised shortages due to support for the strike. This would be more likely to affect single industry towns where strike action would disproportionately affect the local economy. Cities would be protected to some extent by their diversity. Generally, less money would be spent in pubs or shops, and less subsequently paid into bank accounts. The strike ensured that wages were stopped for many families, restricting the disbursement of change. Savings, however modest, would be drawn down in the absence of any other sources of funding, again putting a strain of bank stocks. At the end of the day, a bank will ascertain stock levels of each denomination and order supplies accordingly. If a fixed amount of pennies was the accepted level to hold, then it would take little disruption to the local economy to change demand. Without a fixed end date to the strike, it would be prudent to ensure future liquidity by local banks asking for and holding higher stocks to counteract any supply side problems, or maybe the Government leaning on them to ensure that the economy was adequately provided for and so appear unimpaired by the strike. I think the economy in 1926 provides the solution to the variety of types issued and the various die combinations, with the General Strike likely responsible for a temporary shortage of pennies, leading to the first coinage dies being used with the introduction of the ME dies a response to increased demand.

I suspect that we are looking far to much into this, and that practical day to day working was more the norm, and also that it was just a case of using the dies at hand to complete the intended numbers of coins demanded by the bank of England at that time, also that many of these dies were in fact experimental, and that they had no intention of using the dies on future mass production runs. i Personally i would have thought that using up the remaining working life left on the dies after the experimental test runs were complete would be economically sensible , saving manufacturing time and cost by doing so. Terry