| Brief Description |
This bronze coin was minted in 1967 and features a Bahama Island five cent coin on the obverse and a New Zealand two cent coin on the reverse. It is called a mule.
The obverse has the Arnold Machin portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with the words, "Bahama Islands". The date does not appear on the Bahamas side, as it would on a New Zealand coin, leaving the coin undated.
The reverse has the New Zealand kowhai blossom designed by Reginald George James Berry (known as James Berry) who designed the reverses of all the 1967 decimal coins of New Zealand; his initials JB appear on the coin.
A mule is the hybrid offspring of a horse and a donkey. In numismatics the term applies to a coin having two sides intended for different coins; thus a mule has parents of two different species.
80,000 of these mistakes were minted at the Royal Mint, Tower Hill, London, England. The error went unnoticed and the coins were packed and sent to Wellington, New Zealand, to be distributed at the decimal changeover on 10 July 1967. Within hours of the new currency circulating the accidental pairing had been discovered. Of the 80,000 coins struck, 68,000 were withdrawn by the New Zealand Treasury when the mistake was discovered. The rest remained in circulation to be found by collectors.
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