OK, what do you think the deal is here? A couple months back, I sorted through some coffee cans of cents looking for errors & varieties. I basically found nothing to report to you except this. I pulled these three coins and set them aside. They may not have any relation to each other except that all three were pulled from the same coffee can. The copper colored 1988 cent appears normal & weighs 2.54 grams The gold colored 1988 cent appears abnormal and weighs 2.46 grams The Bahamas coin (two of them) was just in the same can and weigh 3.09 grams each. What do you think about this golden colored cent? Very best regards, collect89 P.S. I have placed the three coins in the same un-labeled flip so it will probably drive my heirs nuts when they find it. Please tell me what you think it is so I can label it properly.
Collect89, The golden colored 1988 Cent is normally referred to as a Brass Plated Cent! For more information on these type of Error Coins, go to the following link: http://koinpro.tripod.com/Brass.htm Frank
proverbial puzzlement right now I think there is something more wrong (abnormal) with the yellow colored cent than can be explained by brass plating. Here are more photos. It is the proverbial puzzlement to me right now. Very best regards, collect89
I wonder if the mint produced coins for the bahamas that year and it gut struck on a wrong planchet. Or maybe another country, IDK.
We can rule out the Bahamas because he said the weights were 2.46 G for the gold colored cent and 3.09G for the Bahamas coin. Guy~
We stopped producing circulation coins for other governments in around 1984. This coin is most likely brass plated as mentioned above. All the lines are from what is called die dressing. Essentially it's polishing the die, often to remove clash marks. The marks left on the die transfer to the coins that are struck. Thanks, Bill
Another way to make a gold colored penny is to first, put a small amount of sodium hydroxide (crystal drain cleaner) in a container of water along with a small piece of zinc and heat it. Put the penny in this heated solution until it turns dark. Then take the penny out and heat it briefly with a torch. It will turn gold exactly like the one you show. disclaimer: if you try this without proper precautions (gloves, goggles, etc) and a disaster occurs, don't blame me. I'm just reporting how it CAN be done.
Where did you learn of this penny experiment? Thanks for the data! The die was so harshly dressed that the coin almost looked like it was struck through cloth or that someone had painted the yellow color onto the coin with a paint brush. On close examination, it is obvious that the die had been assaulted by wire brush or file before the coin was struck. In combination with the yellow color, it certainly was confusing to me. Now that you say there is a simple chemical process to turn a cent this color, it all begins to make some sense. Someone may have just started the process with a cr#@py looking Copper plated Zinc Lincoln Cent and then processed it with the drain cleaner & fire. I wonder if this is in the curriculum as a School chemistry experiment somewhere. (Where did you learn of this experiment?) The cents that the students alter could easily find their way back into circulation. Very best regards, collect89 P.S. Of course finding it along with a couple gold colored Bahamas coins certainly didn't help matters.
Collect, The process that davidh reported could explain the blackish (darker) areas on the coin! This could partially explain why the coin is underweight, since most chemical processes will remove a portion of Copper plating but I also suspect that the coin started out with an underweight planchet. It is still possible that the coin could be genuine and the darker areas could be from the environments in which it has been over the years. Just with about any error that can be found on coins, if it can be man-made cheaply and the coin(s) sells for a premium, then someone is going to try it! Frank
This process of turning a penny into gold has been around for a long time. Here is a video of the process; it's really quite impressive when you do it. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1262456/make_a_gold_penny/
The sodium hydroxide and zinc dust solution deposits a layer of zinc on the cent. The heating in the flame then causes the zinc to melt and dissolve into the copper plating creating a copper/zinc alloy on the surface or in other words Brass.
Conder101 is essentially correct in that a zinc coating is deposited onto the copper of the cent and it forms brass when heated (melted) to the copper. If anyone tries this and you're using a post-1982 cent, don't overheat it because you can easily melt the cent. Another similar way to make a gold cent is using metallic zinc and hydrochloric acid. Dissolve the zinc in the acid. This forms zinc chloride and hydrogen. Add water and some more metallic zinc to the zinc chloride. Heat the mixture and drop the cent in. It will become zinc plated like the other method and can then be turned gold by heating. There is also a "green" galvanizing method which can be used but it's a bit more complicated.
I found a gold colored one in my friends car, she let me have it. It's very clean and shiny, no damge but a few tiny scratches only viewable by reflection of light. Any info to help me out with it email 16rontiveros@usd339.net
