1972, Canadian one Cent struck on wrong planchet. Help please.

Discussion in 'Error Coins' started by snaz, Oct 5, 2013.

  1. snaz

    snaz Registry fever

    Hey everyone, long time no chat with ya'll. I have a cent I'm not sure which planchet it was struck on. In 1972 The Canadian mint minted the Venezuela five centimos coin, which should weigh in at 2.5 grams, and this cent is weighing in at 1.65 grams. That seems like a pretty large difference. so I don't think it would be that one. Any suggestions?

    The coin has a weak strike, and shadowing around the date. It seems the denticles are even around the entire edge, so the planchet seems it was lined up well in the chamber.
    [​IMG]

    Here is the error cent on the left compared to a regular cent on the right.
    [​IMG]
     
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  3. markstamper

    markstamper Active Member

  4. silentnviolent

    silentnviolent accumulator--selling--make an offer I can't refuse

    I'm going to guess that it was eaten away by acid, based on the loss of mass, retention of design, and orange-peel like appearance in the fields.
     
  5. snaz

    snaz Registry fever



    I had contemplated the idea that it may be an acid wash, what makes me think it isn't an acid wash is that the coin is missing 1.58 grams. That is a lot of weight to lose in a wash. I agree the orange effect is strange, but I believe that could come from a weak strike due to the planchet not actually filling the striking chamber.
    as well, the shadowing on the date. I'll try again to get a photo of the date a little clearer, which I couldn't get earlier.

    I appreciate your comments.
     
  6. silentnviolent

    silentnviolent accumulator--selling--make an offer I can't refuse

  7. snaz

    snaz Registry fever



    I feel like if this coin sat in acid for an extended duration, there wouldn't be this much detail. Now I can't be confident, but I feel that based on the thickness from device on obverse, to device on reverse, that that thickness would not even equate to the thickness of field - field on a normal struck one cent planchet.

    I appreciate the link to coins and Canada, I am quite familiar with the site, and they do offer great knowledge on varieties, but not so much on errors, ESPECIALLY wrong planchet types.

    Cheers,
     
  8. ziggy9

    ziggy9 *NEC SPERNO NEC TIMEO*

    Actually that amount of detail is exactly what would be seen from an extended acid dip. I have seen U.S. Cents that have been dissolved to about the thickness of a silver 3 cent piece and they still have quite a bit of detail. The surface shrinks uniformly, leaving more detail than you would expect.

    Richard
     
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  9. torontokuba

    torontokuba Thread Crapper & Hijacker, TP please.

    Maybe a split planchet before the strike? Can't really see the surface of the coin on the red photos...
     
  10. foundinrolls

    foundinrolls Roll Searching Enthusiast

    Those who guessed an acid soak are correct. When a coin is struck, The design is actually struck into the coin, not just on the surface of the planchet. A great deal of detail is actually in the middle of the planchet.

    It's an acid soaked cent. that's all.

    Thanks,
    Bill
     
  11. torontokuba

    torontokuba Thread Crapper & Hijacker, TP please.

    Acid soak would make the cent almost 50% thinner and maintain that much detail on both sides? I really find that hard to believe.
     
  12. foundinrolls

    foundinrolls Roll Searching Enthusiast

    Yes it would. I've seen cents dissolved to being so thin they could bend in your hand and the details are still evident.
     
  13. non_cents

    non_cents Well-Known Member

    I agree with everyone who said acid bath.
     
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  14. snaz

    snaz Registry fever

    Awesome, thanks all, I did not realize details would still be evident after a cent had dissolved this much.
     
  15. AWORDCREATED

    AWORDCREATED Hardly Noticeable

    We need someone to perform an experiment.
     
  16. jon12

    jon12 Young Numismatic

    I agree with him.
     
  17. foundinrolls

    foundinrolls Roll Searching Enthusiast

    I knew I had these images somewhere. heres an indian cent that was soaked in acid for awhile. Note the color is almost identical to the Canadian cent above. This thing is about half the width of a dime.

    acid-treated-indian-cent1.jpg acid-treated-indian-cent-2.jpg
     
  18. AWORDCREATED

    AWORDCREATED Hardly Noticeable

    Well now ... that is pseudo scientifical and kinda sorta matches up to Canadian cents. Thanks for bringing it by :)
     
  19. foundinrolls

    foundinrolls Roll Searching Enthusiast

    This goes back to the beginning of the thread. the detail is still very strong even though the coin has been soaked in acid. The material is about the same. The color is about the same.

    So the relationship between the two as being acid dipped is what is being pointed out. So pseudo-scientifically :), the idea is that two coins made of similar materials, look similar after being treated to an acid soak. ;)
     
  20. AWORDCREATED

    AWORDCREATED Hardly Noticeable

    I am curious about the chemistry implied. Do you know the type strength and quantity of acid involved and the duration of the soak?
     
  21. foundinrolls

    foundinrolls Roll Searching Enthusiast

    Actually, it was a college science experiment. Indian head cents were cheap back then and I had to do something different than just the usual Lincoln cent. So I used a 1902 Indian Head cent (XF condition), 3.09 grams; composition .950 copper, .050 tin and zinc.

    It was Soaked in Concentrated Nitric acid with a starting PH of 1.2 . The coin was soaked for about 90 seconds sitting in a small pyrex flask under a vent hood. The coin was removed from the flask after about 90 seconds. We stopped the exothermic reaction with water. The coin was then rinsed clean with distilled water.

    The Copper was oxidized by the concentrated nitric acid, HNO3, to produce Cu2+ ions; the nitric acid is reduced to nitrogen dioxide.

    Cu(s) + 4HNO3(aq) ——> Cu(NO3)2(aq) + 2NO2(g) + 2H2O(l)

    Even today, this is a common science experiment. We ended up with brown gas and blue liquid (suspended copper ions) and after removing the coin from the flask and a rinse in distilled water, the cent remained as above.
     
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