I know its a bad coin. I honestly want to get opinions about the grayish silver color before i put acetone/peroxide on it. Thanks in advance for all replies
It looks like a regular but very damaged penny to me. I think the grayish silver color poking out is the zinc core of the penny. After mid-1982 the Mint produced zinc pennies with a copper outside.
Zincoln, parking lot damage. Acetone might make the damage a bit more glittery. Peroxide will foam up and possibly loosen more debris. Hydrogen peroxide is normally stabilized with acid, so it might dissolve some more zinc, too. Acetone peroxide will definitely cause further damage. Since I hate Zincolns, I hope if you try this you'll post a video of the result. Just make sure you take it from a safe distance. The videos that end up with the phone pointing at the sky and the videographer gurgling in the background are always a little creepy.
It's a ruined coin. What do you want to have happen to it? If you want the zinc parts (gray parts) shiny, you're probably out of luck. You can polish or scrape them to make them shiny, but they'll quickly corrode again, unless you (say) coat the coin in oil and seal it in something that excludes air.
Why clean it? It's just damaged and already ruined. I find dozens of copper plated zinc cents like yours all the time when metal detecting. They are worthless
Where did someone say it is, or might be, an experimental piece? It's a badly badly damaged coin, nothing else.
I've had it 13 years. "experimental piece "means buying coin cleansers that'll clean penny coins ,with this coin being the first in line this other coin being next.
I would like to learn how to clean pennies by metal/alloy content the safest/best way.I appreciate all replies
What do you have in mind when you say "clean"? You can often remove debris or foreign material from a coin without damaging it. That's acceptable cleaning. It usually involves soaking in distilled water or some other solvent. If a coin has darkened or turned odd colors, you can sometimes remove that discoloration with particular kinds of chemical dips. Those can damage the coin if you aren't careful, and require lots of practice. They generally aren't good to use on copper coins, because they leave a color that nearly everyone agrees is unnatural and undesirable. Anything that involves rubbing, or polishing, or etching (like nickel "date restorers") will damage the coin, and usually greatly reduces its collector value. Which of these do you want to do?