1978 Aluminum US Cent

Can anyone give me more information on such existance of the 1978 US Aluminum Lincoln Cent? Circulation? I believe is was an experimental coin released to banks in New York. Value? I have what I think is a 1978 aluminum penny, and would like to have it certified.

Thanks,

DjDale

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Welcome to CT.

Have any pics?

stainless

 

Welcome

However, to the best of my knowledge, no aluminum cents were made in 1978. There were some in 1974, but none were released to the public.

 

rlm beat me to the 1974 dtae.
but, 1978?

Never heard of it.

 

yahoo Post

Here's a post with someone who found one as well. At the end a collector talks about it.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071216215208AAhhtVc

Here are the best pics I can get of it.

DjDale

 

What is its weight , if aluminum you should be able to tell by comparing it to another cent .
rzage

 

I don't have a gram scale. Maybe a jeweler would. I'll take it to a jeweler tomorrow.

 

If it's aluminum, it should weigh ~1.5g, since it's a little larger than a Japanese ¥1, which has a standard weight of 1g.

 

The "collector" is not referring to an aluminum cent, but rather one struck on the wrong planchet. I cannot say that is not what you have, but the weight might will. Also taking it to a good numismatist would. If I were guessing from the info I have now, I would say that your cent has been dipped in mercury

 

If its aluminum you should be able to tell by picking it up.

 

I've found cents like this where the copper plating has been stripped off. Of course, that wouldn't be the case for a 1978. The mercury theory is probably the case with this one.
Guy~

 

The collector I talked to said about 20,000 of these coins were release in New York by accident. He said he is buying authentic 1978 aluminum cent pieces. I have to get it verified first though.

I will weight it tomorrow. How much does a copper 1978 coin weigh?

 

Read this http://americanhistory.si.edu/coins/printable/coin.cfm?coincode=3_01.
The aluminum cents were made in 1974 and there were none released.

A normal copper cent should weigh 3.11 grams

 

The Mint did not strike aluminum cents in 1978, although in theiry a wrong planchet error could have occured, but I am not aware of any aluminum coins the Mint was making for overseas governments. In any case, 20,000 seems unreasonable.

 

In 1978 the Philadelphia mint struck coins for the Dominican Republic. 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 centavos and 1 peso. West Point struck 1 centesimo coins for Panama. None of the coins where struck on aluminum planchets.

Lou

 

Best of luck with it, I look forward to reading what hte weight is. But my theory is it's plated in some way, but that can be cleared up quite a bit with the weight. Best of luck. :thumb:

Phoenix

 

Please weigh it before speculating what it is. It's no good talking about it if you don't have hardcore facts of what you have there. First you really need to prove that it is aluminum and it should be significantly lighter than copper. Then we can talk about possible errors. If it's about the same, it's plated.

I have real problem with this "collector" that claims to know the existence of 20,000 aluminum cents. Where did he get his source? If he didn't work in the mint or closely related, I don't see where else he would have got his information. I would be suspicious to be honest.

 

I believe that he is/was honest. Don't you believe all those emails you get?

 

I have one, it's a 1978 matte gray in color. It feels light but I haven't weighed it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

Get back to us after you've weighed it.