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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Tejas, post: 8213440, member: 84905&quot;]This is very fascinating. Theft of official dies is certainly a plausible explanation. However, I wonder if the explanation of these mules of &quot;official&quot; and &quot;unofficial&quot; dies is not a lot more mundane. Indeed, I can think of two relatively simple explanations for these mules and for barbarous radiates in general.</p><p><br /></p><p>1. Expert die-engraver were probably in short supply, especially in volatile border regions with lots of internal and external upheaval.&nbsp; If such experts were suddenly unavailable, the die engraving may have passed temporarily to less experienced people either within the official mint or at auxiliary workshops. It would be no surprise if these less experienced workmen would use up whatever was still lying around in &quot;official&quot; dies.</p><p><br /></p><p>I collect coins of the Teutonic Order of knights in Prussia, where similar events are reported in the documents. At some point in the 15th century, an official of the Order complained that his mint workers had died or fled during a military conflict and that he was left with half-trained replacements so that he resorted to hiring a gold smith and his staff to continue mint operations.</p><p><br /></p><p>2. Another simple explanation is that the expert die engravers of the mint were at times unable to produce a sufficient number of new dies. The coins of the Gallic empire are inflation money, that was produced in large quantities during a short period of time.</p><p><br /></p><p>During the German and the Hungarian hyperinflations of the 1920s and 1950s, respectively, the governments were unable to produce bank notes to keep up with price increases. Hence, they applied stamps on existing notes to mark up their nominal value.</p><p><br /></p><p>In conclusion, I think the phenomenon of mules, mules of &quot;official&quot; and &quot;unoffical&quot; dies and of &quot;barbarous radiates&quot; in general, is best explained by the challenges of producing large quantities of dies in a very short period of time under the conditions of rapid inflation. I think they show that the mints were at times overwhelmed by the need for new minting dies and mint officials had to resort to alternatives to alleviate the problem.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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