LouSnyder

The 2004 D silver colored penny my daughter has is a duplicate of a regular penny except for the uniform silver gray color. I looked on the US Mint sight and different on-line searches but have not found any information of 2004 "error" pennies. I've spoke with a few local dealers - some jumping at it and others not caring. How can I safely find out if this penny has been manually altered or if it is a true find?

Thanks for any help and/or advice you may be able to give.

jody526

Hi, Lou.

You will first need to weigh the coin, to within 1/100th of a gram.

Let us know what you come up with.

LouSnyder

Any suggestion where I might find a scale that finite? I have a grams scale but needless to say it does not do 100th!

Thanks for your help.

satootoko

Any jewelry stores in your neighborhood?

BTW, have you read this?

The instructions call for 1982 or later coins because that was the first year that Lincoln cents were minted from copper-plated zinc, instead of bronze.

__________________
Roy

LouSnyder

Thanks for the link. That is exactly what our concern is - chemical alteration. One dealer said there is a chemical test that can be done to determine if the penny has been chemically altered however if it proves negative the new chemical will have ruined the "unaltered" state of the original coin. There is a greater probability it has been altered - but on the per chance!! - why not check it out.

I found it very interesting that an obvious instructor would encourage students to alter US coinage. I thought that was illegal?

Thanks for the info and suggestion of a jeweler - I'll give that a try.

Conder101

<I found it very interesting that an obvious instructor would encourage students to alter US coinage. I thought that was illegal?>

Nope, it is perfectly legal. It's only illegal if the alteration is done with the intent to defraud.

__________________
Slab collector and researcher
reported as of 12/29/06
132 companies 332 production varieties

JBK

Sounds like a possible unplated planchet to me. Be careful, as zinc tarnishes and corrodes easily.

bikermama45

Hi. I am a newbie, so if I've got this wrong, forgive me! I also have a 2004 silver penny, no D. What's up with these? Thanx!

desertgem

This comes up very often. It is most likely ( probably 99.99%) a remnant of an experiment in one of chem lab books for middle and high school chemistry. Here
is a video on making Gold and Silver appearing cents.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/126245..._a_gold_penny/

Students, after doing it and showing every one, usually just puts it into circulation as soon as the novelty runs out. Probably 100,000 of these are made every term.

Jim

foundinrolls

If you can post pictures, we can tell you what you have. It could be a legit error , it could have had the plating removed, or it could be plated like millions of others that have been sold on TV, for example.

A picture would be a great help!

Thanks,
foundinrolls