Does anyone know what the deal is with an off-color 1996 penny and if it's worth anything? (See picture, penny on the right) I've found a few others like it online but never got a real answer as to what it is. It is very new looking for a 1996 penny and is a strange yellowish color. Anyone?
Welcome to CoinTalk! Your cent looks plated to me. More pictures might help. Do you have a scale to check the weight?
It just looks newer and shinier to me. but there are many plated cents out there .. just peruse through Merrick Mint some time to see what hits the wild (circulation) all the time.
It was plated. Here's one way to make more https://www.sciencecompany.com/Turn-Copper-Pennies-Into-Silver-and-Gold-Pennies.aspx
Here are a couple more pictures with another penny for reference. It's definitely a different color, not just newer and shinier. I wish I had a scales that would pick up something that tiny, but I don't. I'm not a coin collector, this one just jumped out at me because it was so different from the others and it piqued my curiosity.
This may help................. Place the silver penny on a hot plate heated to about 570°F (300°C). Watch as the heat diffuses the zinc with the copper to form a brass alloy. This will appear as golden in color. Once the penny is a brassy/golden color, use tweezers to pick up the penny and transfer it into the wash beaker to rinse and cool. Once cooled, you have a nice gold colored penny!
Whoa! Does that mean that tiny sliver of copper encapsulating a zinc one-cent (1982 (partially) and moving forward) interacts with the zinc to form bronze? That is so cool! I might have to try that. Thanks for the information.
