Ok, this is my first post here, but ive been collecting coins and paper money for several years...mostly just things i see at work, star bills, unique serial numbers, wheat pennies, old silver...etc.. the things you can find occasionally, but ive never really spenty anything but face value on anything in my collection. thats my intro, and my question is regarding somthing i found yesterday at work. i opened a roll of quarters, and as i usually do, i stacked them and looked at the edges, one stood out as solid in color, not clad copper. no reason to get to excited, usually its canadian...lol, sometimes silver, so i picked it out, and to my suprise it was a new state quarter...still not to suprised, must be a silver proof that someone deicded to open the set and spend...but upon closer look, its not an "S" mint...its from philly (P)....now maybe this isnt anything special, but i cannot find ANY info on this coin anywhere....ive searched for hours on all the coin fact sites i frequent, and im clueless...my two thoughts are counterfit (someone made it to pass off for big bucks, but why would it end up in a small town bank roll?), or an error of some sort, but i dont know how... so, here i am...help!...lol
Ive taken some pics of it, but even with my digi cam, which is a pretty good one, it cant focus close enough....here's what ive taken so far, its the coin on the left...and the one on the bottom in the stacked pics...
how do you guys get the real clear, close pics?....my camera is 4.5 Mpixel, but that close it wont focus well...
to CoinTalk Matt. How does the weight compare with other State Quarters? If it's slightly lighter (5.25g instead of 5.67g), it could be a silver planchet that somehow traveled almost completely across the country before being struck. More likely it's either a "proof-like" coin, or a plated coin. Proof-likes occur when new dies and an unusually bright planchet get together to produce a business strike with a mirrored or semi-mirrored surface that looks like a proof. Generally clad coins have a visible three-layer edge, but occasionally the center strip won't show due to overlap of the outer layers caused during the initial cutout from the strip of coin metal. Plated coins result from after-mint action, either by a con-man trying to rip someone off, or someone just playing around. Another preliminary - and inconclusive - test is to drop it a short distance onto a hard surface and check the sound it makes. Silver has a clear ring, clad coins normally "thud".
It feels lighter than a "normal" quarter, but i dont have access to a fine scale....and it sounds "higher pitched" like the older silver coins that i have when i drop it, much more of a ring than a thud..
That could be consistent with a silver planchet, which would weigh 6.25g. As the next step, you need to get an exact weight, which you can do at just about any friendly jewelery store or pharmacy.
The coin is almost certainly plated. The TV shows sell lots of these and the coin shops will have no use for them. They get plated in gold, silver, platinum, and something they call platinum. There will be grow- ing numbers of these for years in circulation. Sometimes you can't see the core in the silver clad but I've never seen cu/ ni clad that the core couldn't be seen. In fact, you can always tell the orientation of the planchet in the strip because the core will be smear- ed over the bottom side.
Ive got to go to the post office tomorrow, would their scale be "small" enough to weigh this?....Thanks for the welcomes and all the quick help by the way.
I'm afraid the Post Office scales are nowhere near sensitive enough to detect a weight difference of only .00096 av. ounces (.012 oz. silver v. .01296 oz. clad).
Welcome! Nice find. Yeah, I would suggest weighing it, and not to be picky, just trying to help out (you probably know this) but be extremely carefull not to touch the surface of the coin. Just trying to help Best of luck, you might just have something. About the pics, on your camera there should be a flower like button of some sort. Press it, and you should be able to get close clear pics. Good luck!!! Phoenix
Very interesting. You're welcome. Almost looks like a normal quarter, but then it has an unusally luster to it. IMO simialar to a silver. Could be plating. That is a big possibility, but then a slight possibility that it could be an error. Hope everything goes well. Good luck at getting it weighed! :thumb: Phoenix
thanks. hopefully tomorrow ill have more information, im going to have that weighed along with a clad minnesota quarter...
well my plans to weigh the coin didnt go off so well today...didnt have time before work, and when i took my break and ran to the jewler closest to my store, he was most uncooperative. so ill have to try some where else like the pharmacy at walgreens, they are pretty nice over there. i di try somthing else on a whim though. I grabbed one of my neo-magnets (about 2"x2"x2" for anyone that knows about strong magnets) and found that the quarter in question is "lightly" magnetic...so weakly that it cant even attract enough to hold its own weight up even with such a powerful magnet...not sure what that means exactally...plating?
Sounds like a nickel or chrome plating. Nickel is strongly magnetic and chromium mildly so. The plating is thin though so there isn't much material there for the maget to work on. So since it is detectable as being magnetic it isn't strong enough to pick up the coins.
Sounds like chrome to me, I found a 1959 cent that is completely shiney posted in another thread 1959 D steel cent? with pics. John
Welcome to our forum glad to have you, and as for the camera work there are some real camera guys here they will let you know just ask or do a search at the top of the page.:hail: Bruce.
