A rare $1 coin could be worth thousands due to small printing error

A Melbourne mum is urging people to check their change stash after discovering a $1 coin with a tiny difference.

A Melbourne mum is thrilled after discovering a “famous” mule dollar that could be worth up to $3000.

The moderator of Facebook group Melbourne with Kidz told her followers she found a famous mule dollar, which are slightly thicker than a regular $1 coin and have a double rim around the Queen’s head.

The double rim is clearly seen on the coin.

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This particular coin from 2000 is considered the rarest of the Australian mule coins, which were created after a technical error by the Australian Mint.

“It’s a small number of the year 2000 $1 coins that had been minted using the incorrect obverse die (heads side) and released into circulation by mistake and only discovered a year or two later,” the mum said on Facebook.

She explained that in 2000 the Royal Australian Mint used the smaller 10 cent obverse die (head side) by mistake.

“With just a 1.4 millimetre difference in diameter between the 10 cent and $1 coin, you can clearly see a double rim circle going around the edges of the coin,” she said.

The coin was discovered while going through a piggy bank.

The majority of these coins were sent to Perth, so to find one in Melbourne more than 20 years later is indeed a rare find.

According to The Right Note, only 6000 of these coins were minted in this way, and the anomaly was not picked up until 2005.

The rare coins are available on eBay.

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The coins on eBay range in price from $700 all the way up to $5000 with currently 12 up for auction.

“Check your change and empty out the kids piggy bank! You could be sitting on a winner!” the mum said.

The post has caused hundreds of parents to go hunting in their coin collections to find similar mule coins.

“Gonna go look at my coins now lol have soooo many I collect,” one user said.

“We have to check all the coins you bring home,” said another.

One user, though, sparked a new mule hunt when she told others about a 2014 mule that was rarer than the 2000 one.

“There is also a 2014 mule now. You can find them on a 2014 100 years of ANZACs $1 coin and worth a lot more than the 2000 mule atm as only a few have been found,” she said.

What the 2014 Australian $1 mule looks like.

However, the existence of such a coin has been called into question as only two images of the coin have been reported online.

A professional coin grading service, PCGS, did verify one image but it hasn’t gone to auction.