I just found a few hundred of these all 1997 D in some bank rolls I was searching, I noticed they are golden in color not rosy red and was wondering if they may have been struck on a brass plated planchet?
Imformation I found on brass plated strikes. 1983 "Brass Plated Strikes" 1c 1983 cents struck on "brass plated planchets" were confirmed by the Mint officials and that information published in Coin World's, May 23, 1983 Collector's Clearinghouse written by Marilyn Van Allen). There were also brass plated strikes from these years, 1985 D 1997 D 1997 1998
here is a better picture Here is a much better picture with my digital camera, using the scanner does not show the brass color.
survivor - I am aware of the brass planchet cents you mention although I have never personally seen one. But the cent you posted the pic of - I have a dozen or so of the very same color in my loose change jar. To me - it just looks like a normal, new cent. With new cents, some of them have the darker, more reddish color - some of them have the gold color like yours. Now your coin may indeed be a brass planchet - but based on the pic and the color alone I do not think so. Have you weighed the coin ? Perhaps that would provide additional info.
The brass plated cents were created when zinc planchets got stuck in the plating barrel they would dissolve and contaminat the plating solution. Then when later batches of blanks were plated instead of being plated with pure copper, they got a mixture of copper and zinc. In other words Brass. And they aren't a true mint error because the mint doesn't make the planchets, and the "brass" plating composition varies all over the place. And since the solution starts becoming contaminated with the very first batch of blanks plated you could say that ALL of the plated cents are brass plated with the composition of the brass on every batch being different.
