Rare Australian coins: $1 mule error worth thousands

Aussies have been urged to keep an eye out for a rare $1 coin that could be worth up to $7000.

Aussies have been urged to keep an eye out for a rare $1 coin that could be worth up to $7000 due to a tiny, almost imperceptible error.

The rare $1 coin is famous for being “one of the great mistakes of the Royal Australian Mint”, according to coin collecting TikToker Zacoins.

It can be identified by the double rim that lines the head side of the coin.

This $1 coin can be worth thousands of dollars. Picture: TikTok.

The mistake is known as a mule error — an error in which a coin is struck with dies that were not intended to be paired.

It occurred when, in 2000, the Royal Australian Mint accidentally used a 10c planchet instead of a $1 planchet on the back of the coin, causing the second rim.

That means, if you put a 10c coin in the middle of the mule coin, it fits perfectly into the slot.

The mule error is only known to be present on a few thousand $1 coins minted in the year 2000, though some say a 2014 version of the coin is possible

A comparison of the mule error and a regular $1 coin. Picture: TikTok.

According to Zacoins, a $1 mule can sell for prices ranging from $300 to $6000 on the rare coin market, depending on its condition.

But, per another TikToker, Coincollecting_detecting, a particularly high quality example of the error once sold for $6900.

On eBay, three examples of the coin are listed for $2400, $1450 and $1200 respectively.

The seller of the most expensive listed coin recommends buyers “hold (it) as an investment as prices continue to rise beyond $5000”.

Former Coin World editor William Gibbs once described mule coins as “a fascinating creature, a hybrid of two designs never meant to appear together.”

“Some are accidental in nature, true errors that any collector would welcome in his or her collection. Other mules were deliberately produced, either accidentally, out of necessity to meet coinage demands, or from a desire to produce something special (even if fraudulent) for collectors,” he said.

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Originally published as Rare Australian coins: $1 mule error worth thousands