I went through a roll of quarters tonight. While looking at the edges, I found a quarter with no copper showing. I was hoping it was a silver quarter, but it was a 2004-P Wisconsin state quarter. At first it looks ordinary but from the edge, it looks like a silver quarter. The faces of the coin look like a cupronickel coin. What do I have? Error? 90% silver? It doesn't sound like a silver coin when I drop it on a surface. I know that the only 40% silver quarters ever minted were the bicentennial quarters from the San Francisco mint. If somebody can solve this mystery I will be thoroughly impressed. On to some quickie snaps:
The pictures make its look toned. I would weight it with a good scale if you have one available. Maybe its solid outer layer Cu-Ni but you can't tell what's underneath and it doesn't look weakly struck either.
Your photos don't suggest that it is missing both clad layers because the edge view appears to be normal thickness, but I'm a bit confused by your comment that it looks "cupronickel". Your photos suggest that it has a coppery color rather than a silvery color, and a cupronickel coin would definitely have a silvery color. Is it possible that the white balance setting on your camera needs tweaking? In any event, it doesn't take much of the nickel layer to hide the copper core when the planchet is stamped out of the metal sheet. Chris
maybe some kid broke open a silver quarter set from the mint that he got as a gift, because sometimes kids just want that gumball more than the money, and now it has circulated back to you! maybe.
Almost certainly a plated coin. The TV people sold those plated sets for 10 years or more and a lot of them get broken up and spent when the owners find out they aren't worth any more than face value. They show up in questions here, and on other forums, all the time.
What does plated look like? If you do a decent job of a light plating, the layer is only a few microns thick with a complete even coating. There is no loss of detail, even in the fine detail. There will be no edges, flaking, plating breaks etc. The piece will look like one solid piece of metal. And platings can be dull or shiny depending on the material and how they are done.
