Yesterday I found a gold plated 1917 s wheat cent with very good detail in a coin roll. I am wondering if the gold plating ruins the value/collectibleness as though it were cleaned.
Plating is considered damage. Depending on condition, that coin's value probably went from $1.00 to .05 cents.
Cheapest gold plated cent on ebay buy it now is $1.75. Cheapest normal wheat buy it now it .99 cents. So, yeah, it doesn't necessarily hurt the value unless it was rare or in good condition before the plating.
The key is, value is in the love of the collection. If you like the coin it's valuable. just don't try to sell it for any great amount. (you won't get it) I once had a copper plated 1943 Cent, it was my pride and joy showin it to friends when I was a kid. Alas soon the copper worn down and I had a sadly obvious plated cent with silver color showing through. so don't handle your "gold cent" much if you like it
Mostly I agree. But there is a certain gold-plated coin that is numismatically interesting AND usually sells for more than if it's non-plated : The 1883 “Racketeer” Nickel.
That's true if it's an original gold plate. They have started gold plating these and the modern ones are not as important as an original one. But this is an exception to the rule. And other than this example (if genuine) plating is considered PMD.
Plating ruins any coin. The only exception would be the Racketeering Nickel but then, that coin had history.
Gold plated (silver, etc etc) are extremely common and done by probably at least a dozen commercial companies (plus all the "scientific" experiments). They are VERY common. Just peruse through this page of ONE of those companies ==> https://www.merrickmint.com/24k-gold-plated-coins.html?limit=64 here's 4 of 223 examples of gold plated coinage .. all done by that company to make money off of people for novelty. The US Mint didn't do this. So it's considered damage. If you peruse eBay then you may be able to sell it for a little bit more, so technically you can say it is worth more. You just have to find someone who wants to buy it that way.
Gilt (gold plated) patterns that were made that way at the mint are the other exceptions to plating ruining a coin. I was just throwing a very rare exception to the generalization into the fray.
I like the looks of the penny. Not much money and unique looking. Just know that after you buy it, it is worth one cent.
If they could just get the wheat stalks and the ONE CENT on the reverse gold plated it would look awesome
