I have what appears to be a silver or chrome plated penny, dated 1976 with a Denver mint mark. It also has a liberty bell and US silhouette stamped on the face of it. It is slightly magnetic, but even a strong magnet won't pick it up. Anyone know anything about it? Here's a few photos, but I've taken the old glue off the reverse of the coin:
Counter stamped, plated and handed out as souvenirs for the United States Bi-Centennial celebration. neat find! Welcome to the forums it's a great community!
We see these here on CoinTalk every now and then. As stated.. a special Bicentennial counterstamp added after it left the Denver Mint. And also plated.. It's just a novelty item.
Nickel plated first, most likely. Pure nickel is strongly attracted to a magnet, but there isn't much of it in the plated layer, so you get weak attraction. Nickel isn't magnetic when alloyed with a lot of copper. That's why you can't pick up US nickels or clad coinage with a magnet. Welcome to CoinTalk!
It must have been sold or given out as a novelty from 1975-1976, when coins were being minted for the Bicentennial Celebration. Since pennies, nickels, and dimes did not have a bicentennial reverse, some people counter-stamped them And, as jeffB noted, it might have been plated with nickel, possibly to give it a more interesting color.