I'm still new to this. found this in my pocket change. it looks like the copper is showing through the silver on both sides of the quarter. is this worth any thing? just curious. thanks
Could be defective cladding, a "copper wash" error, or simply discoloration. A microscopic examination would be required to refine the diagnosis.
A "copper wash" error is said to occur in the chemical rinse bath, which is a step after planchets are annealed (heated). If the solution is saturated with copper ions, those copper ions can attach themselves to the surface of subsequent batches of coins. So goes the theory, anyway. Problem is, there hasn't been an obvious source of free copper ions since the mint did away with copper-alloy cents. Perhaps copper ions are preferentially liberated from the surface of clad coins and then re-deposited on later clad coins.
