Found this unfortunate nickel in a roll. At first glance it looks like somebody opted to decorate it with some brown paint. But at a closer look it appears as if the paint is outlining a series of cracks all around the obverse. Some are quite minor while others are more obvious. Or are they something else? Should I try some paint remover to get a better look? Leave it as is? Toss it in the household pocket change?
Nice. Great environmental staining going on there. I would love it as an example to illustrate the impact the environment has. PM me if interested
Well, now that I think about it, why doesn't the whole nickel appear red....hmmm I suppose I should have said some type of corrosive or chemical reaction.
From the way this coin looks in the photos it looks like it has a copper core with a nickel plating . It also looks like someone has been trying to remove some of the plating . I'm thinking it needs to be examined by someone that knows about errors to see what it really is.
It's not staining at all. What you're looking at is the copper beneath the nickel. Nickels are made from 75% copper and 25% nickel. The mint refers to it as Cupro-Nickel. Whatever happened with this nickel to result in the outer nickel being removed is unusual. Perhaps someone was bored in their garage and attempted to operate on the coin to see what was beneath its surface.
I will defer to the chemists. What I see is an acid or similar placed on the coin that dissolved the nickel and left the copper. That is why there is metal missing. Reminds me of how the Romans used 95 copper/5% silver planchets and struck "silver" coins. They threw the planchets in barrels and filled with seawater. The seawater dissolved the copper but left microscopic silver on the surface. When they struck the coin, the silver melted and coated the coin with a miscroscopic layer of silver. It looked silver for a few days at least.... Same thing happening here. Anyone know an acid that dissolved nickel but not copper?
Medoraman sorry but I have to disagree with you here. Acid can be put on a nickel coin and let it eat half or more of the coin away and it will still be nickel colored and only satin looking. I know this because I have did hundreds of experiments during my lifetime of learning how to determine PMD coins from true mint error and variety coins. Look carefully above the D mint mark in one of the photos and part of what looks like the nickel plating has come loose and rolled up. I know the mint has experimented with different ways of using metals to make coins. I'm not saying this may be one of those pieces because I'm just looking at the photo. Also sometimes in rare cases other metals can get struck into coins but the op's coin looks to have been nickel plated over copper. The op needs to hang onto this one for further study IMO.
Wow! I have learned a lot about a few of other members on here from just reading their posts . I would also accept those environmental stained and damaged coins for my poor little collection. No i'm just kidding . LOL
There are 2 things we should all be able to agree on: 1) the outer layer is peeling away and 2) it's damaged. Why is the outer layer peeling away is anybody quess.
5 Cent "nickels" are 75% copper and 25% nickel. My guess is that a very strong oxidizer (acid) was applied to it and turned the alloy into a copper colour. The layer peeling away can be result of the same acid corroding the coin.
@JCro57 is putting together a book on Mint Errors. He will have a section on damaged coins. I have already contributed some of my damaged coins to him.
Nickels are an alloy coins and have no "layers" that can peel off. They are not clad with a copper core. I agree that some chemical caused a reaction leaving the brown color.
