Hi, just found this and a dealer offered me $20 for it.. is that a good deal? Lol jk anyways what are your thoughts on this lil cutie? I tried to find information about it online - its like it doesnt exist. One of a kind or wishful thinking?
There are some corrosive agents that will dissolve the nickel out of the copper-nickel alloy, leaving copper behind. I haven't ever seen one where the boundaries are this distinct and the coppery parts so bright, but I can imagine producing one. There's no such thing as a "copper-core" US nickel. They're uniform 25% nickel - 75% copper alloy, all the way through -- unless, like yours, they're chemically attacked. Welcome to CoinTalk!
Sweet! So what chemical dissolves nickel but not copper? Just curious <3 Ps i cleaned the nickel in vinegar and salt for a few minutes because i was puzzled by the looks of it
Vinegar and salt, if you leave it in long enough. Copper isn't attacked by simple acids, but stuff containing chloride -- an acid like vinegar, with salt added in -- will eventually take a toll. Nickel is attacked by simple acids, although it can form a protective layer that prevents further attack. If you plop a nickel into pure vinegar and leave it for several weeks, it'll eventually take on a coppery color. Acidic drain cleaners will do it much faster.
Well it certainly tastes like a nickel and has what appears to be klingon symbols beside the monticello. Joking aside, i will weigh it in a week once i get my precision scale and then update this thread. <3
That would explain the brightness. I'd convinced myself that the coppery areas were lower than the surroundings, as though they'd been eaten into the coin, but I can't be sure from these photos.
If it was something corrosive -which seems to likely be the case since the parts which show copper are for the most part recessed - whatever it was must have had a paste like or more solid consistency as the believed corrosion marks defy gravity.
