so what do I have with (1) 1980-D 3.1g , (2) 1982-D lg.dt. 1=3.0g 2=3.1g, (1) 1994-D 1=2.5g and (1)1986-D 1=2.5g 1986 looks like a steel in color not copper, the other 4 are shiny and tested silver no copper. The last one seems 1986-D struck on brass. 2.4g....Ever seen this?
Also the brass-like has absolutely zero contact marks I read because it is harder than normal alloy ....after 40 years. These came from a 4000+ estate collection from a collector in Houston Tx. It has other things like complete books all in BU cents and a bunch of sealed Brinks rolls marked GEM and a dozen US Mint Rolls. Not sure that "junk" is an appropriate response
Plated and damaged coins is what I see. Just because they came from an estate and are marked doesn't make them so. Welcome to CT.
Great. Concentrate on those items instead. Don't waste your time with with the Cents you have shown us.
Well well. I was wondering how long it wold take before the poorly worded answers started flying.paddyman98 not my first rodeo cowboy. At least Mr. Collecting Nut voiced his honest opinion instead of a blanket general answer with no substantiation. Did I fail to mention the meteorologist just checked 1 of the 4 smooth cents with luster? Also another 150 or so partial missing coat examples in the collection including the following...... UNPLATED LINCOLN ZINC CENTS Zinc cents with copper plating have been minted since the middle of 1982. Sometimes the plating is partially or completely missing, resulting in cents with a silvery looking surface on part or all of the coin. Completely unplated $100. 95% plated >$50. 50% plated $20. 10% plated $10.
My apologies paddyman98 only coin with luster tested was the 1994-D his report merely states "Silver, no copper." Now I'm wondering if he even checked it for zinc . It has a vry distinctive ring when drop tested though. Just trying to make some sense of why this person collected some of the examples he did. I know if anyone knows their errors it is you sir. Thanks
No problem.. 34 years collecting Mint Errors.. I have been bashed more than once. I don't let it bother me anymore! My certified Mint Errors. Plus 20 more slabs since this picture
First, welcome to the neighborhood! The term "GEM" refers to any coin graded 65 or greater. However, I question whether this roll contains all GEM coins or is it just assumed that all are GEM because they are uncirculated. I imagine that the label with the bar code was applied to the roll from a third-party seller because it did not come from the Mint like that. Chris
Did you mean to say "metallurgist" here? Otherwise, I'm even more confused. Can you tell us what test(s) he used? It's conceivable that a cent could be struck on a silver dime planchet, but even that would be 10% copper, and there would be other signs of what had happened. If he was using an electronic/magnetic tester, it was probably just looking for the wrong thing. If he was using XRF, something is fishy -- if the cent were plated heavily enough with silver, the XRF couldn't read past it, but I think that would have to be really heavy plating.
Since there is no silver, if the test came up positive for silver then that's the plating. A cent struck on a silver dime planchet is going to be 1964 or before, not 30 years later. And could not have fully formed cent rims since the dime is smaller.
-jeffB Thanks everyone for for your help. I am not sure exactly what he used to test the coin. It didn't require scratching or sampling of the surface. My request was to test for zinc or nickle because I wasn't expecting silver. There is a post here about un plated cents where Fred W said his rule of thumb was "if its dull and dusty, removed PMD if its shiny coated..." and true about the spellingg. Appears my spell checker is as orthographically challenged as I am
The person who 'collected' these cents from circulation probably had no idea what to look for to determine if any of them were genuine unplaced or otherwise error cents. None of the coins in the OP's photos appear to be genuine unplaced zinc cents.
@Fred Weinberg , Fred You are known to be the premier identifier in your field. I have read many of your edits to error-ref and many more. The fellow that tested the 94-D commented "telemarketers will coat coins" I would guess in a QVC or Coinvault tele situation. Is it common, in your work with TPG, to see basically face value cents plated heavy as these seem? I did take a saw to one (since there are about 20 of them now) and cut in 1 1/16 at least and under 30x couldn't notice any discernible color change. And the exact weights 2.5 on 1 1982-D and dates above to 94-D, 3.11 on2nd 82-D and the 80-D(the dusty one) and the 86_D brassy colored one weighs 2.40. Would those close of weight tolerances make these PMD, legal tender or counterfeit? Would there be any reasonable purpose to send them somewhere for attribution or perhaps to the Secret Service. Thanks Mr. Weinberg