Wolverine is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, but when it comes to coins, the character is now a mule rather than a mutant.

The Perth Mint issued fewer than 400 examples of a 1-ounce silver dollar for Tuvalu struck by a die bearing the date 2018 rather than the intended 2021 dated dies, as the other approximately 49,600 examples are correctly dated.

This error is classified as a mule, which results from pairing dies not originally intended to be used together.

A spokesperson for the Perth Mint confirmed for Coin World that “less than 400 2018 Wolverine silver 1oz coins were produced. These are approved by the Government of Tuvalu.”

A trooper discovers a mule

The mule discovery was first publicized by a YouTube content creator known as “Stormy” because the channel started out as “Stacking Stormtrooper” but is now Empire Precious Metals. (Empire, of course, is a reference to the Galactic Empire in the Star Wars universe, as evidenced by the Stormtrooper image present in his logo.)

The creator is a middle school teacher in New Jersey who’s parlayed his love of silver stacking (acquiring silver coins and rounds) into a channel with 10,000+ subscribers, and a thriving business. Because of safety and privacy concerns, he requested anonymity, which Coin World granted after speaking with him over the phone.

“Stormy” posted a video May 27 to his Instagram account announcing the mule error, crediting user Paulybuck for the tip.

The next day, May 28, he posted a video to YouTube teasing “Error Coins Worth Money YOU Can Easily Get!” with the Wolverine mule as the star item.

The news soon attracted positive reactions from his fans, and he said he’s sold examples of the coin for between $400 and $800, depending on timing.

“Stormy” contacted the Perth Mint on June 1 for comments and confirmation, which the Mint was slow to give.

Stormy contacted Coin World on June 24 to share the news of this extremely uncommon major error for a major world mint.

The Perth Mint series of coins focusing on Marvel comic book began in 2017 with a Spider-Man coin and has continued to showcase such characters as Iron Man, Black Panther, Venom, Deadpool, Thor, Captain America, and more.

The Perth Mint did not respond to further questions from Coin World (and Stormy) about how the error was made, when the Mint discovered its error, and more.

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