Die Varieties - Mis-Sold Mules - Part 7

In Continuation with the Article on Mules, this one gives out some of the popular dealer mules that are more of Die Varieties than Mule.
For the article on Mules please refer to the post here

Quite a few dealers have classified these as Mules, but in my opinion these are Die Varieties.

2003 – Rs 5 – Dada Bhai Naoraoji

Quite a few numismatists feel that this one is a mule where by the Obverse used was not the correct one. The reasoning given, a new Obverse was designed beginning from Naoroji that had “Toothed” or “Flowery” design on the edge. This matched the similar design on the Reverse. However in the mule coin, the Obverse is plain as used in the earlier designs.

In the period 2003 to 2008, there were quite a few coins that were released and the pairing of the Obverse and Reverse leaves a lot to be desired. The plain and flowery designs have been used interchangeable on various Obverse coins. The full list is in Annexure below. It is also to be noted that the 75 Years of Dandi March & Basaweshwar coin, the Reverse has a flowery design, the Obverse in Cu-Ni has flowery design, but the steel has plain design. On the other hand Khadi and Village and Balgangadar Tilak coin have a Plain design in Reverse, but have Flowery design on the Obverse.

Hence its difficult to tell whether what the Mint Master had in mind and did they treat both the types of Obverse designs at par, in which case this should be treated as a Die Variety rather than a mule.

2005 75 Years of Dandi March [Stainless Steel issue]

The Dandi March Steel coins had a plain Obverse with Sharp Numeral 5. There are coins that have used the “Type D” die and hence this is a variety.

2006 Mahatma Basaveshwara [Stainless Steel issue]

The Mahatma Basaveshwara Steel coins had a plain Obverse with Sharp Numeral 5. There are coins that have used the “Type D” die and hence this is a variety.

2007 – Rs 5 Lokamanya Balgangadar Tilakji

We all know the story of the “Tilak-ji” that got withdrawn after a brief time in circulation. Most of the coins have the Flowery / toothed design. There are also coins with “Type D” die. The arguments are same as in Dada Bahi Naoraoji coin.

2005 & 2007 Rs 2 Definitive – Unity In Diversity

The Unity in Diversity theme a new definitive design was introduced in 2005. The Reverse has 2 slightly different designs. Apparently some classify this was Mule. IE a 2007 Reverse on a 2005 coin and a 2005 Obverse on a 2007 coin.

This is a simple case of Die Variety. When the coin was being designed, there were 2 variations created. Normally only one would get used. However in this case, for reasons best known to Mint Master, both the variations were used.