If the value was of immense worth , simple ways to find out legitimacy would surely not affect the value to a collector , probably towards the mint but not to a collector.
Can anyone appraise this based upon what i said , the description , the photos , all the tests i've done to prove points.
No,(1) because the photos are worthless ( fuzzy, color balance?) , (2)The balance weighing the cent must either be off as the Al is .937g, yours is '2.0' and a regular cent of that year is 3.11 ( +/- 0.1 gram), or it is a hollowed out magician coin or (3) it is a counterfeit/fake as the Aluminum cent is not known to exist before 1974.
Excuse me but I see that moderator banner , and it's shocks me that you would say the aluminum cent is not known to exist before 1974 , when the whole time it was minted in 1973 to be released in 1974.
The coin was minted in 1973 USING dies dated 1974 since that was the year they might be released to the public.
Can you borrow a better camera, then post pics of everything including the rim? I'm really curious to see how this looks!
Lost Dutchman came up with the same thing I thought of about the scale. If yu go back and have it weighed again have them weigh a couple regular copper cents too to see what they get for those. Simple ways maybe not, DAMAGING way exactly the opposite, the mint wouldn't care but collectors definitely would. Take a $10,000 coin, just wipe it off with a cloth and you have a $5,000 (or less) cleaned coin
There was a aluminum cent minted in 1942 so it is not true that there is no aluminum cent before 1974.
1973 is 31 years later. It doesn't mean a 1973 is out there. Again, an aluminum cent weighs 0.937 grams. 1.9 grams is WAY over specs! It's not aluminum. What it is, I don't know. Counterfeit is all it can be...if the scale is correct...and if we were not striking foreign coins of similar weight in 1973. Period.
Yes, that is correct as it is a 1942 aluminum cent pattern or trial piece and only a few evaluation strikes were made. Since it was twice as thick as a regular cent, it could not have been produced for circulation as it would not fit properly in coin operated devices. It was never seriously thought to be used. The 1974 Aluminum cent was considered as functional as they minted over 1.5 million of them, and when not approved by legislature, they intended to destroy all of them, but a few did 'escape' , but since they were never issued, the Federal Government insists they belong to them. The mint is always experimenting with every substance, including metals, plastics, ceramics, and other materials. An aluminum Indian head cent pattern was made in 1862, and many years after that, but because they are just another trial metal and not a legal coin, produced for public use. They are usually just an extremely small number made, and in the early mint history, influential people/collectors were able to obtain them from the mint. Modern mint management insists they are more strict. The 1974 Aluminum cent is arguably a pattern also rather than a regular coin.
I have heard the same thing about pennies being dipped into mercury or aluminum as a science project. I have one of these too, and all I did was rub the coin on my stone I use for acid testing, and sure enough, the copper shows through on the coin underneath the micron-thick plating. Just an old electroplating project.