I've found quite a few of these roll searching....but never a brown one. Even a bit of verdigris to go along with it. LOL
WOW! You wouldn't think there would be any that solidly brown yet. I wonder what it went through to get there...I occasionally find cents from the 1960s with most of it's original color left! Edit: With the verdigris, I am guessing that it has been under water for some time. Perhaps it was tossed into a fountain?
I find several of them like that even LP2D and I have wondered the same thing I just thought it was normal I didn't know others were asking the same thing. I have seen some '09's that were so rough you would have thought they were wheats.
Copper is so reactive, and it's been so long since we've had this composition, that we have forgotten how quickly these coins can and will change. Even the mint forgot. I would even hazard a guess that many were not even old enough, perhaps even born yet, when we last had these to have ever noticed it. It takes very little for copper to turn brown, days even under the right conditions. I would guess that Billy's scenario is quite possible.
Thad, these are the copper clad zinc ones, right? Not the 95% copper composition? It would be fun to know how it is done, might turn some cleaned pumpkins into brown coins. Jim
.......you're not confusing these coins with the 95% copper are you doug? i thought the op stated the coins were from rolls. if that's the case the coins would be the copper plated zincys, yes?
There are some 18th century coppers with original mint red (not many, sadly !) How is this already brown ? The short answer is "whatever it's been exposed to". The "dropped in a fountain" theory is likely, or even dropped on the street. Wouldn't take long to be golden brown.
It doesn't take too long for them to turn brown in pants pockets either. Might be the detergent or something. Guy~
I'm going to drop a few in water to see what happens. I'd love to have a couple nice brown cents like that.
Yes, this is a Zincoln. The browning of copper is mostly due to exposure to organic substances such as skin oil. I believe this coin saw heavy circulation in it's short life. It also was exposed to high humidity at some point which prompted the verdigris formation. I would be very, very suprized if this coin sat submerged in water. Water, even though corrosive, would actually provide a bit of protection from organic browning substances. I suspect the effect of water would be some pitting and loss of plating, definately not browning.
I got a lp1 in change the other day that was well on it's way to becoming brown too. It was more brown than red. It will be interesting if this is a trend in circulation.
Any coins can turn ugly, brown, toned, etc under the right conditions. Someone I know has a job cleaning up in bars at the end of a day. He can keep any coins he finds on the floors and he does. He used to bring them over for me to look through for rare of valuable ones. I asked him to stop since almost all of them looked like they were in a cess pool for years. And as to Copper pennies (cents), those looked the worst and many were only a few years old. Something about the floor of a bar I guess.
