As most of the newspapers have themselves pointed out in their articles (although not in their large-print story titles), the penny that has been found is not in fact silver, but steel. This is not a rarity in itself, as most pennies (along with 2 pences) struck after 1992 are copper-coated steel. The steel penny that has emerged could be a rare mule, but is probably more likely to be an ordinary penny with the copper coating stripped off.

We have predicted the appearance of these so-called ‘rare’ steel pennies for a long time, and it does seem strange that one should come to light so soon after the 20p mule story, when the press is unusually receptive to this kind of story.

A source within the press also informs us that there is a story about to break about a ‘silver’ £1 coin from 1989 being found in circulation. This could be one of three things. It could be a genuine mint error coin struck in the wrong metal, but it is more likely to be either a forgery in a ‘silvery’ metal, or else a silver proof pound coin that has somehow managed to enter circulation. In either of the latter two cases, it is unlikely to be worth thousands of pounds, unless somebody on a certain internet auction site is daft enough to actually pay somebody that much for the coin (and then actually pay the holder, unlike the 20p that sold for £7,100 on Ebay, which the winning bidder subsequently failed to cough up).

Other Recent Mules

• 1983 Twopence
  1983 Twopences with "New Pence" instead of "Two Pence". Issued only in mint coin sets. The mule is worth a few hundred pounds compared with perhaps £1 for a normal one in mint condition.

• 1994 Gold Proof Two Pounds
  Gold proof collectors two pound coins. The Mint tries to recall the coins after shipping about half the issue. Out of a total of only 1,000 pieces, about 30% may be mules. The mule is worth about £1,000 compared with £400 for the normal version.

Urgent Health Warning - Undated Twenty Pence Mule Coins

Undated Twenty Pence Mule Coins - Our Buy / Sell Advice

More To Follow
About 20 more media errors to follow, right now, I'm going home for a beer. More tomorrow...

Our Original London Mint Office Page

Please, if you are going to ask us whether the 20p or £2 coin you own is worth £50, please, please, please read our other pages about them first, and even then the answer is almost certainly no.

Two Pound Necklet Rumour
About 1,000 people every week read one or more of our pages about £2 coins. Hopefully most manage to find what they wanted. A tiny percentage, but still about 20 per week ask us whether a £2 they have found in change / in a drawer / been given is worth more than £2. The answer to 99% of these questions is already on our site. We do not have the time or patience to answer such questions individually.

Buying Coins
We also buy coins, please see our We Buy Coins page.