‘Mule’ 20 Pence Coin Sends Britons Scrambling

A specialist British firm has offered to buy faulty 20 pence pieces for 50 pounds, sending Britons scrambling in search of one of the approximately 50,000 undated coins.

So what’s faulty? These coins have no date on them.

The Royal Mint has admitted it made a rare error, producing coins without a date on them for the first time in centuries.

The latest error happened when the Royal Mint issued a new design of the coin that moved the year from the back side to the one that bears the head of Queen Elizabeth II. But mint spokesman Jadon Raj said one batch that didn’t add “2008″ to the head’s side got through quality control.

The letters “F.D.” have been printed where the date “2008″ should have been. A coin with mismatched sides is known as a “mule” and they are extremely rare. The last time one appeared in circulation was during the reign of Charles II more than 300 years ago.

Raj said the mint couldn’t issue a recall because the coins are legal to use.

“As far as were concerned their face value is 20 pence, so there isn’t an issue for us,” he said.

The mint said Monday that at least 100,000 of the year-less 20-pence coins, normally worth 33 US cents at face value, slipped into circulation at the end of last year.

The coins first appeared at the end of 2008, after a batch which included between 50,000 and 200,000 of the faulty 20-pence entered circulation. The last time a mistake was made on the casting of a coin was in 1983, when a batch of 2-pence coins went into circulation with the words “New Pence” rather than “Two Pence” on the reverse side. These coins fetched up to 650 pounds in top condition.

Some numismatists say the last time the Royal Mint accidentally left out the year on a coin was in 1672.

The mint admitted the mistake after a private British company called the London Mint Office launched a promotion Monday offering to pay 50 pounds ($83) per coin. Market experts noted that the coins already have been quietly selling to online collectors for up to six times higher.

Homer Simpson is New Face on Euro Coin

An official Spanish one Euro coin bearing the face of cartoon couch potato Homer Simpson instead of that of the country’s king has turned up in candy shop owner Jose Martinez’s till.

Martinez was counting his cash the city of Aviles in northern Spain, when he chanced upon a Euro coin where the typical face of cartoon couch potato Homer Simpson had replaced that of King Juan Carlos.

“The coin must have been done by a professional,” he told Reuters.”It’s an impressive piece of work.”

Don Juan Carlos’s regal half-profile topped by a full head of curls had morphed seamlessly into the pop-eyed, big-nosed, bald-headed features of beer-guzzling Homer Simpson, complete with his 5 o’clock shadow.

The talented carver had not touched the other side of the coin displaying the map of Europe. So far, no other coins of the bald headed and big-eyed hapless ‘intelligent idiot’ have been found in circulation.

Martinez says he’s received thousands of bids for the coin have come in from Simpsons fans in the Netherlands, Japan, Canada and the US, but he plans to keep the collector’s item for himself–at least for now.

But he ought to beware of potential duplicates: