2016-05-03 Tue

A collector named Tommy Bolack has acquired 10 of the 14 known examples of the $1.25 State quarter dollar obverse/Sacagawea dollar reverse double-denomination mule error coins, for tens of thousands of dollars each.

The error coins used the obverse of a quarter dollar featuring the George Washington portrait introduced in 1999. The diameter is trimmed and the reverse machined out. The piece is then struck from a Sacagawea dollar leaving the reverse intact.

These coins were struck in 2000 at the Philadelphia Mint. A State quarter dollar obverse die and dollar coin reverse die was matched together and a dollar coin planchet was struck. This was executed with at least three different die pairs.

Thousands of mule errors were struck out of which, almost all were recovered by the Treasury Department from a Philadelphia.