Is the 1926ME penny a mule?

[Peckris]

I've seen the Modified Effigy 1926 penny described as a mule, but is it, really? My understanding is that a mule is a combination of obverse and reverse dies that are not normally seen together, but either through unintended action at the Mint or from deliberate using up of old dies, are put together.

Given that the Modified Effigy was planned before 1925 when it first made its appearance on halfpennies, and was an attempt to eliminate ghosting altogether on first issue reverses, then surely its use on all the 1926 coins was quite intentional? Ok, the gap to the new reverse designs of 1927/1928 (proofs/currency) is very small, but that doesn't make the 1926ME coins 'unintended' in any way. After all, apart from the penny, all other 1926ME coins are pretty common, or hardly scarcer - if at all - than the old head. Its appearance with the first issue reverses was planned, and therefore cannot be described as a mule.

What do others think?

[davidrj]

I've seen the Modified Effigy 1926 penny described as a mule, but is it, really?

Not a mule for me

[Rob]

Not a mule for me either. Generally speaking, a mule is an anachronistic die pairing, or one from completely different or unrelated, but contemporary, issues.

[Red Riley]

Not a mule for me either. Generally speaking, a mule is an anachronistic die pairing, or one from completely different or unrelated, but contemporary, issues.

No, I don't buy that either. We have to remember that when coins are produced, the intention is to fulfill a treasury quota and dies are used as they become available, usually oldest first. The fact that this can produce rare die combinations is, or at least was irrelevant to the mint. Presumably once the basic effigy for the new head was available, no dies were cut using the old one and therefore the pennies minted early in the 1926 run would have used dies probably dating back to 1921 or 1922 and kept in stock.

[Peckris]

Not a mule for me either. Generally speaking, a mule is an anachronistic die pairing, or one from completely different or unrelated, but contemporary, issues.

No, I don't buy that either. We have to remember that when coins are produced, the intention is to fulfill a treasury quota and dies are used as they become available, usually oldest first. The fact that this can produce rare die combinations is, or at least was irrelevant to the mint. Presumably once the basic effigy for the new head was available, no dies were cut using the old one and therefore the pennies minted early in the 1926 run would have used dies probably dating back to 1921 or 1922 and kept in stock.

There were probably quite a few 1922 dies unused, when you look at the size of the 1921 mintage and how suddenly it was reduced for 1922 when the economic sh*t hit the fan.