The Very Highest Quality Advice...
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Advice About Buying & Selling Undated Rare Mule Error 20p Coins |
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Undated Twenty Pence Mule Coins - Buy / Sell Advice
We are receiving hundreds of phone calls about the (2008) undated error mule 20p coins, asking what they are worth and other questions. We give some advice about buying & selling.
How Much Are the Mules Worth?
The simplest and most accurate answer to this question is "As much as somebody is prepared to pay you for it".
This may at first sight appear to be an over-simplistic reply, but it is actually the only concise and accurate answer to the question. We will give a short time-line first:
- December 2008
First mules found. At this point, we believe some sold for about £100 each, which was probably too much, however if only 10 pieces were ever discovered, this would have been cheap, but as it would have taken days or weeks for them to have been discovered in circulation, then it was always likely that a large production batch would have been made and released. The size of this batch would probably depend on when either of the dies became worn or damaged, and needed changing.
- June 2009
Prices had settled down to sensible levels, and looked likely to be drifting lower as more were discovered. The number of collectors for them would probably not increase. When there are more than enough to go around, then prices tend to drop.
- June 29th 2009
Media madness took hold as newspapers, websites, radio stations, television stations and other media rehashed the press release which had been sent out by London Mint Office (a private company), purportedly offering to pay £50 for one of the mules.
- June 30th 2009
A few lunatics started bidding ridiculously high prices on a popular internet auction site, presumably because of the huge publicity. A rush of people listed twenty pences for sale on the same website (we try to avoid naming it as we dislike using 4 letter words), all hoping to cash in. Many of the listings were for coins with no date on the obverse (head side)!
- July 1st 2009
It was reported in one headline that a twenty pence had sold for £7,000; another quoted £7,100. (#330341158384); yet another enterprising seller "sold" one for £1 million (#130316015333).
It's one thing to "sell" something on eBay, but its not really sold until you get paid. Our guess is that most of these "sales" will not complete, the "buyers" will work out how stupid their bid was, and renege on the contract. Due to eBay's ease of anonymity, and lack of quality control, this is very common. Of course, the £1 million sale looks as though a pair of jokers have teamed up.
- August 2009
We are predicting that the price will have dropped back down to slightly more sensible levels, probably between £50 and £100 each.
(Written 2nd July 2009)
- September 2009
We would be surprised if you could get £50 for one by now.
- December 2009
£25 anyone?
- June 2010
How does £5 sound?
Our Advice To Owners / Sellers
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If you find one of the mules, try your luck on eBay, and hope somebody is stupid enough to pay anything over £50 for it. If the "buyer" fails to pay, you will have to make a non paying bidder strike against them to get you eBay selling fees back. Don't use our photographs!
- Failing this, register with LMO (but whatever you do, do not buy anything from them), then see if they come good by paying you £50 for it, within 28 days, and hope you don't get kept waiting on a premium rate telephone line for instructions, or any other "catch".
- If you have more than one of them, we doubt whether LMO will buy more than one from you. Please let us know if they do.
- If you still have it in a few months, take whatever you can get for it. With between 50,000 and 200,000 in circulation, there will be more than enough to fill demand many times over.
- Currently we (Chard) would pay £25 per coin in mint condition, or £20 in near mint. These prices are subject to change without notice (almost certainly downwards!), and we would not want to buy a large quantity.
By comparison, if you have 1,000 Krugerrands for sale, we would be happy to write you a cheque for over half a million pounds on the spot.
Our Advice To Buyers / Collectors / Investors
- If you are a keen collector, by all means buy one, but we suggest you avoid paying more than £50 for it, unless you have more money than sense.
- If you think these coins will be a good investment, forget it!
- If you are a sensible collector, wait until more of these coins appear of the the woodwork, and you should be able to buy a mint condition one for under £50, and a near mint one for under half that amount.
- Wait long enough, and you will probably get one for a fiver or less.
Update - December 2013
The 2013 edition of Spink values these coins at £100. We would currently be happy to pay £20 for one in a reasonable condition and £50 for a minty one.
Other Points to Note
The "rare" mule error coins are undated on both sides.
If there is a date on either side, it is one of the normal, common types, and only worth 20 pence.
Undated Twenty Pence (20p) Coins Error Mule Worth £50?
No, it's only bullshit, but all the UK media fell for it!
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.
Twenty Pence Coins on eBay
There are many press reports about 20p coins worth £7,000 or £700 or £50; many based on purported sales on eBay...
Coming soon...
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 when we have already provided detailed answers.
Buying Coins
We also buy coins, please see our We Buy Coins page.
...at the Lowest Possible Price |
32 - 36 Harrowside, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY4 1RJ, England. Telephone (44) - (0) 1253 - 343081 ; Fax 408058; E-mail:
The URL for our main page is: https://24carat.co.uk
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Chard(1964) Ltd |