any help on this would be appreciated, Its a 1957 Canadian cent, You can see, some copper color on the rim, and It feels lighter than a regular cent. I dont have a scale precise enough to give me exact weight. I hope these pictures are of some help.
That is usually my line, but I do not think so this time. Mercury forms an alloy with the original brass. The original color does not return until the alloy has worn away. It is thin and soft, so it usually wears away rapidly. In this case, it looks to me like it is pealing off like it has been dipped in something (zinc?).
I remember WAY back when I was in grade school we used to peel the foil off the paper of chewing gum wrappers and press it onto cent coins. If you did a really good job it might pass for a dime. This does not appear to be what happened to your coin. (I just wanted to tell my story.:loud
zinc was something I was thinking about too. The few things that are leading me away from dipping is.. 1. It FEELS lighter than a regular cent. and 2. the hair lines are still easily visible..( wouldn't they be somewhat covered if it was dipped with, say, Zinc?) I will do my best to get the weight.. I might have to ebay a scale.... And I guess a nickel planchet is out of the question because from that time frame they were 99.9% Nickel, and nickel is magnetic.. and this cent is not. also: This wasnt recently pulled from circulation.. we just got a box of my grandpas old stuff and this was in there, so He's had it set aside for quite sometime... well.. anymore opinions are welcome
ANYTHING that would coat it will make it heavier. It will be adding to the initial weight. The only way it would actually be lighter would be if someone actually removed some of the initial coin. It depends on the thickness of the coating. Dipping would probably tend to flatten such items, but could well be done not to obscure them. Electroplating (not saying yours is) I believe would actually accentuate the differences Try going to a jeweler.
Judging the weight by feel is VERY subjective and can be influenced by the appearance of the coin. If they think it looks like aluminum they perceive it as lighter, even if it isn't. If they think it is silver or gold people will often be of the opinion they are heavier. What hand you are holding it in also has an effect. Also, with training you can get to the point where you can detect a .5 gram difference. Without training you are lucky to be able to detect a 5 gram difference consistently. You really have to get it weighed on an accurate scale..
I just purchased a scale off eBay, so within a few weeks I should be able to post the accurate weight.
hey. everyones probably forgot about this. But the coin comes in at 3.24 grams, which is exactly where it is supposed to come in at. lol
I would think that 3.24 grams would be a little on the heavy side (our cents were 3.11 and I don't believe the canadian coin has been heavier than ours since 1920.) So much for "It FEELS lighter".
according to Canadian coin guides and books, that is the exact weight they are supposed to weigh in at. and your right, So much for my first post. appearance is everything
I remember when I was in my high school chemistry class we plated Lincoln Cents with something...but I can't remember what. But, it involved an electroplating process and was really easy to do. My guess is something similar happened here. The plating would be so thin I wouldn't expect it to add any noticeable weight. Something like this: http://www.finishing.com/138/04.shtml
will someone answer snaz's question i got 2 lincoln cents that look the same and i thought someone just messed with them
The modern Lincoln cent is coated with 0.02 grams of copper. Even assuming that they did a lousy job of coating and used 0.1 grams, that would easily fall into the normal tolerances. And that is 5 X the coating on the Lincoln cent plus the fact the both zinc and aluminum (it is not) are considerably less dense than copper. The coin has been plated!
