Mules discovered among 2007 Mint sets

By Hans Niedermair

A couple of sharp-eyed collectors have discovered a mule error in the Royal Canadian Mint's 2007 sets.

The error coin couples the wheelchair curling 25-cent piece reverse with the Queen Elizabeth II obverse sporting the Olympic logo.

The wheelchair curling coins are supposed to have the Paralympic logo on the obverse.

Both Leo Wagenaar of B.C., and Kevin Mosher of Quebec, purchased their Special Edition Uncirculated Coin Sets directly from the Mint. The sets contain the circulating 1-, 5-, 10- and 50-cent coins, the loonie and toonie, plus the five Olympic 25-cent coins for 2007 (hockey, wheelchair curling, biathlon, curling and downhill skiing).

After his discovery in early August, Wagenaar, who was the first to contact CCN about the error, went on a hunt for more errors, combing post offices and coin shops in Vancouver's lower mainland area. After searching for several weeks, and ordering more sets from the Mint, he had found seven sets containing the mule, among about 300 he looked at.

If his sample is accurate – which it may or may not be – that would mean there are about 700 error sets out of the mintage of 30,000, accounting for about one out of every 50 sets.

Of note, Wagenaar said that he has found there are two different types of plastic film packaging for the sets – one with a thin plastic sealed with a narrow serrated pattern and the other with a thicker plastic with wider sealing margins and rounded corners. All of the mules he found were contained in the thicker plastic packaging.

Mint spokesman Alex Reeves said that the RCM was informed of the error shortly before being contacted by CCN regarding this article.

He told CCN that prior to the Mint's discovery of the error, 22,000 of the 30,000 sets struck had been sold.

"The ones that we have in inventory, we're definitely going to look at," Reeves said.

If quality control does find more mules among the sets, new coins will be struck to replace them. (That would lower our estimate to just over 500 mule sets out there.)

When the error occurred at the Mint press is unclear.

"We can't determine if the error occurred at the beginning of the run as opposed to the end of it," Reeves said.

Of the two collectors who contacted CCN, Mosher received the mules in the spring, "either on the first or second day of their release," while Wagenaar said some of the later sets he bought had the error, including ones purchased from the Mint in August.

As for the sets' market value, one dealer which has some of the mules on hand is waiting until the company can determine the number of mule sets out there before putting a price on them and selling them.

"We don't know what we will sell them for yet," said the dealer. "I couldn't even speculate."

He said his firm received its mule sets in May, although as a testament to the eagle eyes of the collectors who discovered these errors, the company sold several sets without noticing the error.

Wagenaar said he is sending his error sets to ICCS for grading.

The mules have only been found in the Mint sets. Thus far, none have been found among the circulating coins, Mint rolls, 14-coin sets, or first-day coins.

It is highly unlikely any mules will be found among the circulating coins, since they were struck in Winnipeg and the sets were struck in Ottawa.

Mules are generally very rare, much sought-after errors. For example, a U.S. Sacagawea dollar was discovered several years ago with the obverse of a Washington state quarter and the Sacagawea reverse. In 2000, the U.S. Mint confirmed the legitimacy of the error, and only a few have been discovered. One example sold on EBay for more than $40,000 US.

In Canada, a mule was discovered among the circulating Millennium 25-cent coins issued in 2000. The piece sports both the February obverse, and the obverse of the medallion that was included in Mint sets. It lists in Trends for $525 in MS-64 condition. Mules were also discovered among the 1999 Millennium coins, on the September and November 25-cent pieces. Each of those is valued at $160 in MS-64.

October 16 to October 29, 2007 issue of Canadian Coin News