Harrison Mule

[njsjcin]

Hello,

I am new to the forum, and apologize if this is not the appropriate place for this question. I am in possession of a collection of bronze presidential medals layered in gold, Washington through Clinton. The medals were struck by the US Mint and layered by a company out of Wyoming (Fleetwood) that appears to be defunct.

Among the collection is a mule - The William Harrison medal reverse contains the information intended for the 1889 inauguration of Benjamin Harrison. I have a letter and description card describing the error.

I'd appreciate any expertise on what such an error might be worth in the collecting world, along with any information what the overall collection might be worth. Medals are 1 5/16" in size, contained in plastic protective covers.

I have photos but am having a heck of a time attaching them - would be happy to e-mail if that helps at all.

[Daniel]

Do you have paperwork that states these were struck at the U.S. Mint? Also are you certain Fleetwood gold plated these coins? I know they made holders and albums but just want to make sure what the paperwork states.

Usually these types of medals with an error do not hold much of a premium because most people don't collect them. If your set was struck by the US mint then it could be worth in the area of $200 but they can often take a while to sell.

[Paul]

:agree: d, ALL the paperwork is key here......
scan & post? whistling2:

[njsjcin]

Thank you so much for you response! - here is the paperwork stating the above. I have additional paperwork both from Fleetwood and the U.S. Mint concerning the delivery of the Clinton medal back in 1994, which was delayed until a while into his term:

[Paul]

very nice, did they ever state a 'set population' report, as to the number of sets with this mule that were known & released?
as you can imagine, the fewer the better...as rarity goes....in correlation to value 'premium' with sets having this coin included...
:trophy:

[Daniel]

Okay, since we've established that this set is indeed a mint product issued by the U.S. Mint then I can say a few things.

Fleetwood gold plated these coins and Fleetwood has nothing to do nor is affiliated with the U.S. Mint so they basically damaged these coins by plating them in gold. Now depending on the thickness of the gold layer and the size of the metals there could be anywhere from 20 cents to 40 cents in gold.

I've seen these sets up for sale and they sell for less than their issue price which was several hundred dollars throughout the life of this program. As far as the mule is concerned, a mule of actual U.S. Coinage is much more rare, desirable and not comparable to a medal mule and from the look and "feel' of what you posted these mules are a bit numerous.

So the key here is, like paul stated, how many? Since you can't find a lot of these for sell then that should tell you something, but I can't give you potential value without value references. From experience and based on the facts at hand I doubt there's much value potential with these coins, sorry to say.

I am not afraid to be wrong and wish I had better news but this is the experience I have with these private companies and the items they clad and sell and put paperwork in with different claims to make them appear more valuable.

[njsjcin]

Thank you so much, to both of you, for your time in responding. I have no information as to the number of sets, and wouldn't know how to begin to find that out. Daniel, given the information you presented, I believe we will hold onto it as a family collection item. It'd been given to me as a child by my grandma, and I'll pass it down to my kids, and they hopefully to their kids someday. More than anything, I didn't want my kids messing around with it if I was sitting on something ridiculously valuable! Thank you again for your time.