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Thanks Jorg, I got to rechecking not sovereign (Quintessence 3.5, 2) but
TABLE OF SOVEREIGN VALUES(II)Venator below. Corrections when several will
P/T         P/V   Mate#   be entried. Sovereign (Venator 3.5/5) would not
CANNON      4.5   3      be surprising Mate# turns out 4 or 6, not 5,     
CANNON PAWN 2.2   4      though '5' checks out the second test on paper
QUADRA-PAWN 2.0   3      only.  A generality: Mating Number  >=3, the 
HALF DUCK   4.5   2      set-up position of checkmate is attainable in
NAHBI       5.0   2      practice over the board.  However, mating
UNICORN     6.5   1      numbers 2 and 1 tend to need computer veri-
DABBABANTE  5.5   2      fication.  A subclass of '1's, (Rook 5.0/1)
SISSA       6.0   1      for one, of course are obvious cases without
WOLF        3.75  2      computer. For example, White Venators c4, d3,
PRIEST      4.25  2      d4, f4, f5, King c2, beat Black King d1. 
WATER ROOK  3.0   2      Checkmate. It's important to test the plausible last two or three moves.  A last move by White could be Venator g5-d4, delivering the Checkmate. So '5' is probably the right Mate# sovereign (Venator 3.5/5).  How can a mating number be '0'?  They belong not exclusively to cases of piece-types having negative value; it may have some value but not for check or checkmate, for eventual follow-up.