Inherited Silver Toned 1942 Lincoln Cent

Here's another coin from my private collection that I just had Todd photograph for me. This one has sentimental history for me. If any of you have read my story on my website, you'll know that I got my start in coins when I inherited a set from my aunt several years ago. This coin used to be housed in a an old yellowed 2x2 cardboard flip and is the last coin that I still have from that original set. I kept it because it was so unique and pretty, and it reminded me of my aunt and how she got me started in coins.

Well, last year I brought it to a Long Beach show and showed it to several people. Two out of four dealers I showed it to thought it might be the elusive 1942 struck on a zinc planchet. So I asked all my dealer friends and searched high and low for a simple magnet - I couldn't believe that no one had one! Then the dealer right across from me who sells jewelry and knick knacks happened to have a refrigerator maget! So I held it up to my coin and EURIKA! The magnet stuck! I couldn't believe it. My heart leaped right out of my chest, and I was already trying to find out how much a zinc 1942 Lincoln was worth.

Then, of course, my bubble burst! I showed the coin and the magnet to a copper dealer just to make sure, and he discreetly began to chuckle. Of course, the magnet was sticking to the staples in the 2x2, not the coin! Geese...... I felt like such a dunse!

Well, any way, I submitted the coin to PCGS and it came back MS66 BN. I was pretty happy about that - I think it was a pop 1/0 at the time, but I haven't checked lately. But I later showed the coin to another copper dealer who suggested I have the metal tested because apparently the mint did make some prototype cents when they were working on creating a cent without copper. I may do that someday, but for now I'm happy just keeping this coin and remembering how and who got me started doing something I really love doing.

 

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that's really unique toning!!

Very nice

 

Beautiful!

 

I presume you meant "steel" planchet? Magnets do nothing to zinc.

 

I would not have thought that coin to be anthing but copper.

I would not have thought that coin to be anything but copper. But remember there are not many that see has much copper as I do.
I have seen and I own many just like this. It's a beautiful cent though, I love it but that color is all copper - copper will tone in so many shades that it boggles the mind and coins like this will someday be really appreciated - as is the coins I have like this would normally not be worth but $15 or so but the finest three I have I would not sell for $100 each - that's how remarkable they are.
By the way all of the ones I have and all of the ones I still own are early 1940's P,D, and S's so there may be something to the planchet materials being modified or experimented with - nothing would surprise me. I once open a bank wrapped roll of 1942-P and they were and still are as yellow as any of the yellow or brass type cents found in 1985, 1997, 98.
I mean butter yellow - I bet I made $400 on selling the singles for $10 or more each over time.
One more note then I will shut up - once there was an auction on eBay for 70 of these very cents (just like you have) and they didn't sell so I counter offered and won them for about a buck each. They were supposedly from Florida, a little old man had them wrapped in tissue for over 50 years - they looked just like your coin to varying degrees or others. Some magenta, purple, green, grey but with fabulous strikes and color through out - I gave some of the better ones to friends and sold most but still have a couple and when I saw your cent that's exactly what came to mind.

 

Pretty Penny!

 

That is a really cool cent. I have never seen one toned like that. :thumb:

 

Very nice!!!!!

 

I've been waiting for this thread. I have a 1941 D in my book, a gorgeous 65/66, but the color is very light, like a cross between red silver, It's hard to explain but it sits in between 2 bright Red coins and the color stands right out. Don't get me wrong, I love this coin but always wondered if the coins composition was different. I cant see how a coin can tone "lighter".

 

Beautiful cent!

I was reading in the book Coin Chemistry about an IHC that was silverish, just like this coin. It had that color from being dipped in an old, reused silver dip. Silver in solution will plate on to a copper surface producing this color. I would have loved to run an X-Ray analysis on your coin Charmy.

 

Ben,

Good point! We tend to forget that the Mints have had the Contractors (the actual Producers of the planchet stock) play around with the composition of Cent planchets as well as many other planchet stock over the years. Also, many a Contractor doing work for Uncle Sam have done some unscrupulous things over the years to curb costs and meet their' bottomline (put more money in their' pockets). It would not surprise me in the least if 60% or more of every coin ever produced did not meet the composition specifications if they were ever analyzed!


Frank

 

Any chance you have one of these?


http://www.coinlink.com/CoinGuide/p...struck-in-white-metal-judd-2081-pollock-2077/

 

no, you can see the copper showing through.
Which actually can look like rust, which makes it more likely that you would think it's steel!

 

Also copper cents when they get red hot change into all sorts of colors... lots of blues and silvers... that's what this piece kind of reminds me of

 

interesting you should mention that, as I've done some experiments

The ones I did actually turned Neon Pink - but they didn't get "red hot".

 

Thanks for all your comments and feedback. Let me just add, I've had this coin for about 15 years, and I'm sure my aunt had it another 20 or more, as the 2x2 holder was very old and yellowed sealed with those old crimped-type staples. But who knows what someone did with this coin before that. Since I only collect and sell copper, I too have seen a lot of copper coins and know they tone all kinds of beautiful colors, mostly depending on how they were stored, though unfortunately, many these days have been manually or chemically enhanced. I have even seen some Indian cents that look close to this pretty silvery color, but not as blue/white as this one.

I have also experimented with heating copper and none of them ever came out this color - they were various shades of pink and violet like Magman said. My experience also leads me to believe that the specific metal composition in coins changes from year to year as mentioned above. I've also seen certain years that tone differently from the year before or after, like 1880 Indian cent. I have seen more beautifully toned coins from this year that have similar toning to each other, but not the same toning as coins from 1881 or 1879. Just as it is common to see woodgrain toning in specific years of Indian cents, like 1873 or 1908, whereas woodgrain is not as common in other years.

Who knows if this 1942 is a pattern or how it got this color, I just wanted to share it because it was so pretty and unique. I love the toning on this coin, but I cherish it dearly because of where it came from.

 

That's a really cool looking coin!

 

Thanks Frank and bph. Great stories and points. I learned something here. Appreciate those gems of knowledge from guys like you in the know. Awesome coin Charmy

 

Man, that is cool toning, one of the best pennies I've ever seen...Very nice!

 

Thanks for all the comments and information, I really appreciate it. I may send it to be metal tested someday, but for now I just like admiring it and thinking of how this coin was part of how I got started in coins.