Hi folks, My daughter found this coin amongst a bunch of change she had in her piggy bank and showed it to me. I would appreciate your thoughts as it appears to be a combination of a 2003 Canadian penny and dime. I compared it to both a 2003 penny and dime and one side matches the penny and one the dime. It is not readily apparent from the scan but the "head" side is silver like a dime. The coin does not appear to have been manually altered as there is a gradual melding of the two metals along the edge. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Unfortunatley it is not an error it is a steel core (the "p" below the queen means its a steel core plated coin) cent with its copper plating worn off or taken off. Since the coin is damaged it is only worth face value. Since 1997 due to the rising cost of copper the Royal Canadian Mint has minted Canadian cent coins with a zinc or steel core with a copper plating.
Defiant7, I am not sure that this is the case! Note how wide and beveled the rim (the area out beyond the dots) is on the clad (Reverse) side which I believe was struck with a Ten Cent Reverse Die! I believe that the coin may be a type of mule but it appears from all aspects that it would have had to been done with Mint employee manipulation. (I added the next comment since I first thought that the coin may have received a cladding on the Reverse which may not be the case.) However, if the coin is one of the Copper coated Zinc or Steel planchets and it is either Zinc or Steel showing through on the Reverse, then it may be in fact a genuine Mint Error without Mint employee manipulation. Definitely one that should be checked by a Professional Coin Dealer!
I believe that is just the way the photo was taken and the lighting since part of the plating is still on the coin it makes it difficult to distiguish between the edge and the space between the edge to the denticles. It is a steel core for sure, but because the plating is still partially on makes me think somebody intentionaly removed it. I also recommend you take it to Professional Coin Dealer, but try not to pay for an evaluation as I think you will be dissapointed with the results.
The P means its copper-plated steel. It looks like someone stripped off the copper by letting it sit in a shallow chemical bath. You can take it to Gatewest coin on Corydon, with the coin in hand, itll only take a few seconds to tell if its a worn down layer of copper, or a rare & valuable error.
Just to satisfy yourself that it is really a steel core, pick it up with a magnet. (Refrigerator magnets make great coin test tools.) My own take is that dopeuser hit the nail right on the head with his description of how it got that way.
I am not sure of anything anymore concerning the coin! I really am not up on Canadian coins...especially during the transitional years where coins were minted with Queen Elizabeth with and without her' Crown.
It is steel... The magnet did pick up the penny and I found another 2003 penny that shows the Queen wearing the crown... it seems there are at least two variations of the head. I guess it stands to reason then that this is the steel core showing through, the question is whether this was an error or intentional. Assuming it was a mint error, would that cause the coin to have any value beyond its intended value? James
The appearance of the edge, with the straight color border, is only consistent with an intentional stripping of the plating, which could not happen in the ordinary course of minting the coin. My vote is still with dopeuser's explanation. I've never heard of post-mint damage increasing a coin's value.
