Hey everyone, I'm new here and I have a question about a coin I came across. I found a really interesting 1965 quarter laying around my house, I don't know where it came from, but I figure it came in some change. Both sides look normal enough, but along the edge, it looks as though 2 coins were glued together or something, with each half being a different color, though it's the same width as any other quarter. I don't really know much about coins, but I do know that alot of quarters have a 2 color edge like that, except I've never seen one with this kind of split. I can sort of see in between there, and the middle looks like copper, but it's hard to tell. Anyways, I was curious if anyone knew what was up with this quarter.
US quarters minted after 1964 are composed of an inner layer of copper clad with outer layers of copper-nickle, and have that two-toned sandwich appearance. The slicing of blanks from three-layered sheets results in a variety of edge appearances, with different degrees of copper coloration, caused by the shearing effect of the blank punches. Your odd one appears to have some sort of post-mint damage. BTW it's generally not a good idea to hold coins the way you did for the pictures.
Oh, alrighty. Thanks for the info. I wonder what kind of damage would cause it to look like that. And sorry, Like I said, I'm pretty much a coin noob, that's sort of why the research I tried to do led me here somehow, but I'll remember that about holding it..
Deffinatly looks like someone has been palying with it, but it would make a good piece to show how they are constructed :thumb:
The apearance has a encased look to it but i don't think they put quarters in encasements. I would say post mint damage JC
Extended soak in a mild acid such as vinegar. The acid attacks the copper more strongly than the copper nickel layers resulting in the center copper having a smaller diameter than the outer cladding layers.
One thing that would nail it down, it probably still shows the reeds on the copper edge. The action of the acid is even on the copper so the reeds remain visible. But in order for the reeds to form the copper would have had to once be all the way out at the edge so it could press against the collar during the striking.
