It was previously plated.. that's all. Not a mint error of any kind. Could of been mercury.. That is poisonous. Clean your hands and get rid of it!
I think it would be impossible to say what it is from a photo. It may just be toned from years of age.
Appears plated due to edge of profile. Mercury tends to flow better than that. Also elemental mercury is poorly absorbed through the skin, If you swallowed the coin, it would tend to have less problems medically than eating a can of tuna. However do not heat the mercury to try and recover it as the vapor can be absorbed readily and damage the brain functions.....hmmm that explains a lot on this forum! IMO, Jim
BTW, for the record - not in this case - coins are not plated with mercury (despite the video), rather Mercury forms an amalgam with the copper. Why this is relevant is because it means - even if you did it in a proper haz containment environment, heating the coin to remove the mercury will leave behind a surface more damaged than we see when you use acid to strip the plating...
Yes it can. I have seen copper proof cents still in OGP that have toned silver, and when I carried a Sac dollar as a pocket piece it first turned brown but as it started to wear it took on a silvery color. So copper can tone a silver color. It is a little odd but it can happen. But then it would be magnetic. There are lots of silver colored metals though that AREN'T magnetic.
I had a feeling you would chime in! Yes.. A little odd. So what do you think about the Cent in question?
I'm wondering how a nickel plated coin could become magnetic since nickle is a non ferrous metal ? Maybe is is because of something they mix with it to make the plating , I have a few here but have never checked them with a magnet. To me it looks like the OP'S cent is a normal toned old cent. It probably still has some mint luster on it in the silvery looking areas. It seems like the older coins with original mint luster are more likely to develop this color.
I think it has been plated. The OP coin does have some shine to it but it doesn't appear to be mint luster. Because pure nickel is one of the few metals that is magnetic at room temperature. I believe cobalt is another one. Nickel typically loses that magnetic property once other metals are added to the alloy in quantities greater than 12% (In other words once the alloy is less than 87% nickel it is no longer magnetic.) the plating on a nickel plated coin is still pure nickel so the plating will be magnetic.
Nickel is a ferromagnetic material. So is Co, Nd, and a few others. You are confusing ferrous metals with ferromagnetic materials.
Thanks Condor 101 for the info. now I learned something new. I'm 67 and still enjoy my old hobbies . I collect or rather should say hoard many different things. It's about time for me to start letting some of it go.
