Can anyone please tell me if this is real. I've watched videos on how coins are made but I'm not sure if this is possible. I tried to take good pictures but my phone is not that good. Thanks for any and all advice.
Hi Jennis. This is simply a damaged coin. Though I agree with Idhair on that score, I will try to guess the cause, based on my fellow members replies. Beardigger says "Uhuh, not I". Manny suggests that the coin may have been subjected to acid, which took off the copper coating and left the zinc core behind. While that could explain the color, it doesn't do much to explain the rippling effect we see on the coin. Meow, with his feline intuition, may be closest to the truth. While the fire may have been hot enough to cause some rippling in the coin, it did not reach the critical melting point of zinc, or all we would have is a blob of white metal. I have heated both copper cents and modern pennies with a blowtorch. The copper cents will glow red hot and not melt, whereas the modern pennies will start to heat and glow, and then suddenly melt into a blob of white metal. There may also have been some use of a poker or other fire tool to move the coin around while it was in the fire, which may have caused the hot metal to move around. As I stated previously, I'm only guessing, and my guesses are no better than anyone else's guesses, or non-guesses for that matter. Good Luck Jennis, and Thanks for posting to Coin Talk !!
I would like to propose an alternate PMD theory. Acid disolved (or at least diminished) zinc, but copper plating left more or less intact. I offer an interesting youtube video as evidence:
That IS an interesting video, but it doesn't explain the ripples or apparent distorted shape(s) of the penny. Remember, my explanation is merely a guess, based on other members' suggestions.
Dang that stinks cause I thought I really found something since on the front in god we trust is still in tack for the most part and the date too
Yeah, I'm afraid the consensus is post-mint damage (PMD) but we're just not in agreement how. Welcome to CoinTalk, though! Keep searching!
