My First DD!!!!!

The difference is subtle. What are you seeing?

 

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I know everything, an I mean absolutely everything of the stuff that I do know.

But I no nothing of the stuff I don't know.

But I don't know what I do know I don't know that I haven't learned yet from not knowing what I really don't understand that I don't know of what I don't understand to know as of yet.

 

Hard to explain, It just looks like old brass, definitely not shinny, all over the coin including the rim with no brown or green discoloration. It also sounds more like a thud when dropped instead of a click like sound when compared to a similar cent.

 

Here’s the chemical difference. Cents made from 1944-1946 are brass. Spent cartridge brass. The minor metals in the alloy are slightly different.

 

Not bad... I'd even give a thumbs up if I knew how. Perhaps you can help?

 

Ok, but in 1976 the composition was 95% Copper and 5% Tin and Zinc to get brass but if you take out the zinc you get bronze. (not 100% just remembering my old science class)

 

I don't know.

 

I believe that is correct, without looking it up. My point is that it takes a very acute eye to detect a difference between brass and bronze. But many cents get plated by various means after the fact of the minting.

 

True, I am just going to write it up as "possible bronze" since it looks identical in color and texture as an old Olympic medal I have that is bronze.

 

So after being intrigued by the weird color 1976 cent I decided to do some more digging. First I found someone else on here had a similar coin and the consensus was that it was plated, so I thought if mine was plated it would weigh more than the other 1976 I had to compare. The result was even more confusing as it weighed less (FYI, I don't have a gram scale, I did the pen and ruler way) than 3.11 grams. So I thought something must have happened in 1976 with the US Mint and decided to search the Library of Congress website for Treasury Reports for the year 1976. After reading the report I found out that the US Mint that year made coins for foreign countries, 800,976,163 coins for Liberia, Panama, Peru, and the Philippines. The only one that they made bronze coins for was Peru though and also the only place it was made was at the Philadelphia Mint. Next step, looked up the Peruvian coins and the only similar one in size was the Peruvian 1/2 Sol de Oro. That coin weighs 2.1 grams and the closest to that weight for me to compare is a Dime (2.5 grams), and wouldn't you know it, at times it was the same or the dime was heavier. Here is my theory that is far from being proven: Could this really be a bronze planchet left over during the minting of the Peruvian coins (color looks so similar in the pictures) - was there a planchet left over and used for the Lincoln Cent? Did the mint test out a Lincoln Cent die to see how the die would work with the bronze Peruvian cent and accidentally add it to the regular circulation coins? I am going to buy a gram scale tomorrow and get some actual weights, I am also goin to track down a Peruvian 1/2 Sol to closely compare. I think we can rule out "plating" due to the cursory weight (will confirm tomorrow) but if anyone has any other ideas or tests for me to try let me know. This should be fun.

 

This sort of thing has happened and can happen, but it's almost always done intentionally. A smaller stray planchet is tossed into the cent production line by an employee.