1919 s lincoln 3.25g?

Hi everyone,
Given the wear on coin why would it still weigh in at 3.25g? I've come across one that was struck on a 10c centavo at 3.2g on the internet but how does a person tell the difference? Is there a reference site that explains what to look for?
Thanks for the help.

 

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I'd check you scale make sure it's calibrated as a first step.

Should weigh 3.11g, mint tolerance is +/- .13
So could have started as high as 3.24g or as low as 2.98g.

As worn as it appears it's not that worn really, not enough to have shed much weight really.

I'd say could be an unsteady surface the scale is on, something stuck on tare, maybe old batteries, or out of calibration.

There's usually an easy explanation to try before going into looking for some off metal variety or wrong planchet that might not exist and in this case it's likely the scale... unless you are absolutely cetain that scale is accurate to 100th's of a gram consistently.

 

Thank you for the possible explanations and I pulled out my other scale to double check. Both read 3.25g. I also weighed a sample of 10 Lincoln's ranging from copper to zinc series to check accuracy. Weight on samples from each scale was within .001 at times but almost all were spot on with each scale. This is the only one that reads 3.25g.

 

Can we see a edge picture next to a correct weight CU cent. It may be a rolled thick planchet.
http://www.error-ref.com/rolled-thick-planchets/

 

I placed the 1918 s between a 1923 and a 1917 lincoln. Tge 1923 at 3.08g and the 1917 at 2.93g

 

I thought it was a 19-S? Unfortunately I can’t tell much from that picture. It’s blurry on my end and all 3 coins appear to have an edge scrape in the same place. How about a photo of just the correct weight coin and the coin in question, cropped and posted full view instead of a thumbnail? Thanks

 

My digital caliper reads 1.4mm thickness and 19.1 diameter if that helps.

 

I'm out of ideas except it's a heavy planchet but still likely within tolerance, but barely depending on their scale in 1919 it could pass.

As far as off metal, the 1920 struck on a argentine 10 centavo planchet it was a copper nickel planchet and it wouldn't look like your's does. There is no "list" to go by really. You'd have to do your own research into what the mint was doing on a given year, figure out if it even applies or was a planchet from someone's pocket and had nothing to do with coins struck for other countries, do a spetroanalysis and specific gravity testing to find out the composition of the metal, ect.

I was really hoping it could be explained away by the scale being off because the rabbit hole you want to go down is a deep hole trying to identify a wrong planchet correctly when you don't know where to even start.

I would suggest a micrometer, measure it for diameter and thickness.
The diameter of a normal Lincoln cent is 19.05mm.
The Thickness of a normal Lincoln cent is 1.55mm.

All that aside. The planchet itself should be 95%copper, 5%zinc.
I wouldn't rule out improper mixed alloy that's making it heavier a bit as the reason for it weighing as it does either before chasing down data from 1919 from the san fancisco mint.
For sure all through the teens and 20s they had alloy mixing issues, maybe this was light on zinc and heavy on copper... would take a specific gravity test and spectroanalysis to determine that though.

Good luck

 

Very likely that it was struck on a slightly overweight planchet. Technically, it would be an error, but at 0.01 gms over the tolerance, it really doesn't add any extra value

 

put it on a diet ?

 

Hi I was reading your post. I found a 1919 last night that weight. Is 3.27 grams

 

I see the OP hasn’t been by CT for a very long time but the thread provides for a plausible scenario that might apply to your specimen.

Welcome to CT!

 

Actually nobody cares any about that. Sometimes they're within tolerance, sometimes they're not, that's all that means. That doesn't mean a foreign planchet, it means they missed their mark, no big deal. Go through a whole box of cents, you'll find a number of those off. Doesn't mean the presumption shifts to a foreign planchet.

 

I would also obtain a scale/balance that measures at least 3 digits after the decimal so you can round it off to 2 accurate numbers past the decimal. Jim

 

Ok thank you great to be here

 

Ok thanks a lot haven't been doing this very long. But it's very interesting and compliçated
Thanks