Got this in change--any way to tell whether it's a planchet error or (more likely) plated? Photos are quick & cheezy, but the coin doesn't show the detail loss that plating causes.
Nah, it's definitely coated with something--maybe zinc or alumin(i)um. Weighs nearly as much as a clad quarter, but makes a different pitch "clink."
Plated with cocaine dust possibly, but that is simply a diry coin. And keep in mind, that any goo that accumulates on a coin can change its accoustic properties.
If the plating is aluminum, the chalky white stuff would be aluminum chloride, the same gunk that forms on those chintzy 1960's-70's aluminum window frames. But in real life the coin "looks bluish," more like zinc.
Even if it were plated with aluminum, it still did not come from the mint that way. To my knowledge the mint has never worked with such a planchet for either domestic or foreign coinage.
It's a "Raven bringing light to the world"Haida mask Canadian $200 gold piece from 1997. It's there koz I'm an idiot for not buying one at the time.
I suspect that tiny dark patch (near center of edge image) is where the coin was touching something (electrode?) during the amateur electro- or wash-plating process.
By "Weighs nearly as much as a clad quarter . . . " I take it you mean that it weighs LESS than a normal clad quarter. How can that be explained? A 1995-P quarter is certainly a clad quarter. By plating it you would be adding weight to the coin. If you plate the coin with a light material like aluminum you are still adding weight. There is no way a coin will end up weighing less after being plated.
