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1860 Farthing Toothed or Beaded or Mule Border

au58au58 Posts: 1,288 ✭✭✭
in World & Ancient Coins Forum
Can anyone describe the mule? Is the border completely toothed on one side and completely beaded on the other? If so, which side is which?
If not, is only part of the border toothed and the remainder beaded or ???
Thank you

Comments

  • farthingfarthing Posts: 3,294 ✭✭✭
    The mule was minted using a toothed border die for the obverse while the reverse die was a beaded border die.

    You can see an example on the Colin Cooke web site
    Here
    R.I.P. Wayne, Brad
    Collecting:
    Conder tokens
    19th & 20th Century coins from Great Britain and the Realm
  • 7Jaguars7Jaguars Posts: 7,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    OK, this BB/TB thing is way blown out of proportion in my humble opinion - everybody seems to get in huge fights over it. The border of these farthings is decorated by either dots or teeth as these elements are either contiguous (attached) to the edge of the coin in the case of the toothed border or separate in the case of the beaded border.

    I have seen coins that are hybrids not only with regards to the obverse & reverse, but even on the obverse where some of the "dots" are contiguous and others are clearly separate. How to label or pigeonhole such a coin? There is no logical way of accomplishing this in my opinion.
    Love that Milled British (1830-1960)
    Well, just Love coins, period.
  • au58au58 Posts: 1,288 ✭✭✭


    << <i>The mule was minted using a toothed border die for the obverse while the reverse die was a beaded border die.

    You can see an example on the Colin Cooke web site
    Here >>



    Thank you. This makes it quite clear. The mule is real and not merely the toothed version that some try to pass off as "toothed and beaded" just because a few of the teeth are mostly round and clear of the rim.
  • AboutfarthingsAboutfarthings Posts: 5
    There are several noticable differences between a toothed and beaded border. It is always the reverse that is the beaded border on a mule. One is that there are three sharp pointed rocks to the left of the lighthouse instead of a single larger rock, and there is also a different count of teeth/beads if you have the patience!!

    There are descriptions of the different obverses/reverses on my site, and the difference is clear when the two varieties of reverse are side by side.

    Aboutfarthings
    Many Thanks
    Colin G.

    Aboutfarthings
  • farthingfarthing Posts: 3,294 ✭✭✭
    Colin - I had never had the 1 rock/3 rock difference pointed out to me - thanks!

    The pictures on your site make the difference quite clear. image
    R.I.P. Wayne, Brad
    Collecting:
    Conder tokens
    19th & 20th Century coins from Great Britain and the Realm
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