Shining piece of metal !

A few days back I went to the BSNL office to pay my telephone bill.

The cashier had about twenty coins on her table (to be given to customers as balance) and
I could see one shining piece of metal among those coins. Very bright and giving a come-hither
get me look.

I pointed that coin to her after giving my cheque and asked her if it was a five rupee coin.
She took it in her hand and said "Yes."

Since I always carry a few coins with me, I took out a five rupee coin and told her if she could
give me that coin.

Immediately she retorted: Do you collect coins. Is this a rare coin?  She was reluctant to part with it.

I told her: No, mam. It is just an ordinary coin like this one. Only it is a bit shiny.

She gave me that coin: An almost uncirculated five rupee coin of Moscow mint of year 1999.

MULE COINS

I happened to view the wall posting of Mr. Rointon Andhyarujina about Mule coins.

His post ends as follows:

"So mules are mismatches done by the asst mint master with old dies mostly to complete an order or whatever. Errors are the real minting mistakes.

It will be well worth your while to bear this in mind as also India being the only country to have a whole lot of mules far from than US and UK combined and also a few more countries thrown in. As far as I am concerned my commentary of mules is over."

Yes, Sir. Well said. I fully agree with you. What else is a mule but a mismatch?

He has also elaborated that the BI coins would be having any number of mules.

Why go after the mules? Let us be content with going after the thoroughbred horses.

Beginners would be well advised to study well the coins that they have and that come into their hands and try to understand and be able to recognize a mule or die variety coin and collect it rather than paying a few hundreds or few thousands to "buy" a mule.

One should bear in mind that in India many of these Mules and varieties are suspect.

Would I like to buy a Mule coin? Not sure, Sir!  Not sure.

But the day I get a mule coin in circulation and I am able to recognize it, then that coin would be worth more than a lakh of rupees to me. But the chances of my getting a coin like that is one in a million! Why should I bother about it?

Your comments are welcome!