Hello, new guy here. My dad showed me a cent he has that looks to be made of brass - as in yellow, shiny, brass, badly worn. This is a 1916 D wheat. Is this real? Or was this something made in some-ones basement? I searched the forum and didn't see anything. I searched the net, nothing. Does anyone have any info? Thanks much. KC
Looks like someone kept er shinned up. in doing so, they took all the value out of it numismatic wise. brass is just copper and zinc mixed, im not sure what the portions of the mix would be to qualify for brass label however, the composition was 95% copper and 5% zinc I belive for normal lincoln. correction 5 % tin and zinc
Welcome to Coin Talk. As others have said, it's polished. Just about any decent brass cleaner will make a cent look that color.
I did not know this. I had seen many cents look bright, but never that color. I have learned something today! Thanks to all of you. KC
I remember when I experimented with brasso, could very well be one of my early in coin collecting coins lol. Edited to say maybe not that was a long time ago