Is your 20p coin worth £50?

Call it experience, but every so often I see a story that just doesn't feel right.

The general rules that I use when looking at stories these days entail the questions "what's the source?" and "in whose interest is it that this story is printed?"

This http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/8123749.stm story just didn't feel right. I remember a decade or so ago there was a tale about a faulty two pence (the queen not having a necklace, I believe). It was an urban myth, but that didn't stop people looking in their pockets to check.

Now, look carefully at this story. Note also that it appeared in 20 different places this morning (and on GMTV), and it would appear that Nick Hart, from "The London Mint Office" (no connection to the Royal Mint) is quoted in all of them.

Then we see that the Sky story refers to the website www.undated20p.com where "lucky owners" can register their details and post the undated coin "back".

Well, not quite "back", since this is not a Royal Mint web site. It's a, yes, you've guess it, a London Mint Office web site.

All of the headlines say something along the lines of "worth £50". What this actually means is that if you are among the first 10,000 registrants with The London Mint Office, you will get £50. The Sky News Story said that they are worth £50 "if immediately returned", once again implying that the Royal Mint will pay it. Not so, of course.

In fact, when did this mis-issue take place?

Now it gets even more interesting, and it's a fine indication of the laziness of most journalists. Because the London Mint Office concedes that

"Last year there was an incredibly unusual lapse in the strict quality control at the Royal Mint. A batch of 20p coins were issued with mis-matched sides."

Curiously, our marvellous press didn't seem to catch up on the point last year, did they?

Which is strange, because the details are not that hard to find. For example, if you go to:
http://cgi.ebay.ph/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360156884993
you can see that, far from being "worth" £50, the actual value on the open market is no more than £25.01.

But the more important point is, who will be checking up on the London Mint Office? What external verification will there be that the fifty quid will be paid in cash to each applicant?

I remember Martin Hammon getting himself on the front page of the local Evesham paper by appearing to wave a wad of money that he would spend if the Evesham cinema could be saved. A closer reading of the small print revealed that Martin offered to match , up to a hundred pounds anyone else's contribution to Martin's own "Save The Cinema" campaign. Good publicity for Martin at very little cost.

The London Mint Office presumably can't believe its luck that nearly all the national press, the BBC, GMTV and Sky took up this story. Any one of them could have found it here
http://www.predecimal.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4131
on December 13 last year.

Indeed, the Royal Mint quote used in many of today's stories

“The Royal Mint can confirm that a small number of new design 20 pence coins have been incorrectly struck using the obverse from the previous design, resulted in these coins having no date.
“The issue has now been resolved and the Royal Mint would like to reassure members of the public that these coins are legal tender.

is actually from last December.

The story was also published in Token Publishing here:
http://www.tokenpublishing.com/issue.asp?iid=254

This item is interesting because it gives an estimate of the number around and the chance of a single 20p being one of the mule variations. If it's a single "batch" then it would be between 100,000 and 200,000. That would mean that there's about a 0.2% chance (one chance in 500) that a random 20p would be a mule. But, and here's the important point, if it's a bashed about 20p, then it will be worth far less than if it is in "Mint" condition. Hence, I feel, the importance in checking that the London Mint Office lives up to its promise and permits an external party to verify that it has really sent out half a million quid to the lucky applicants. I see that the London Mint Office, established in 2006, says that it is part of the Norwegian Samlerhuset group (www.samlerhuset.no), although there is also a Dutch Samlerhuset, which is a direct marketing organization.

Oh, and, yes, I did check my 20 pences...