Hi Gang, I got this very pretty bright goldish colored cent in a bank roll. It jumped right out of the pack because of it's slight gold color. It is not like the gold plated coins I have seen before and I am not sure how to discribe the light silver-gold color. Can anyone tell me why this coin is colored and where the coin might have come from originally ?
Well, copper is the most chemically reactive numismatic metal in the US. Since this penny is 99.2% zinc with copper plating, I'd imagine a number of things could have caused this penny to have a more drastic change in color from the others, possibly it was exposed to heat or higher temperatures (zinc involved gives it the reddish or dark yellow to make it appear more goldish), etc. The honest truth though, this came from the mint as a circulated coin that ended up in a bank roll you received (from the time it left the mint to the time you received it, who knows where it's been, how many pockets it was in, etc. I'd say it's still worth a penny though.
Could be a brass plated error from the mint... I keep these when I run across them roll searching. Not impossible to find out there, but not common either. I've probably found more Wide AM cents roll searching than brass plated errors. Anyway, it caused by excessive zinc in the plancet bath at the mint,, the reaction can make the copper coating turn to brass and gives the coin a yellow/gold appearance. Google "brass plated cent" for more content.
Thanks BahaBully, I am delighted that you posted your picture which is identical to the color of the coin I have. I am amazed that you people can figure out what I am trying to convey sometimes. I am terrible at taking pictures. Thanks ----- Dave
Yeah, your pictures show up much more darker which if were the case could be a result of heat to the penny or something else to cause the color change. Since zinc and copper are the to alloys that create brass, so it's not a surprise to likely find more that are brass like BahaBully stated.
Yeah Rodeoclown, I was disappointed that the color didn't come out like the coin. The color is more brassy looking like Bahabully posted. I think this makes for a beautiful coin and wonder how many are out there. I think I would like to start a collection of these if they are plentiful and I could find out where to get them. Dave
The variety experts out there will generally offer these for sale. They are not common and you'd doing very well to even find enough to create a set of 5-10 of them. As stated, then base elements to create the brass are there, but they are not processed in a manner which readily imparts brass to the exterior of the cent... unless the mint allows the cleaning solution to get too zincy I've seen various degrees of this on cents and less brassy examples are easier to find,, finding the extreme yellow brass examples is not easy at all.
