See pictures. I've seen this type of thing twice now, and I'm curious as to what causes this. Can anybody offer some insight?
Chris is right... Sweaty hands, Carr dashboards, dirty cup holders... Everything those old cents are exposed to will affect the way they tone..... But I am sort of wondering if you may not have a little woody going on there as well... Some copper coins show a wood grain finish.
That is a fair point. The only reason I ask is because I've seen an almost identical finish personally, but I suppose that falls into the random category too. God knows, maybe those two coins were put through similar conditions. Thanks for the insight!
I've seen an almost identical finish in my pile recently, that's what brought me to ask the question. I've never heard of a woody penny before, I shall have to look them up!
Put woody in the search tool at the top of the page. There have been several good discussions here about Woody’s over the years.
We commonly use the term copper when referring to Cents. But in reality they are/were a bronze mix prior to 1982. An improper alloy (metal) mix can cause a yellowish brassy look or a wood grain look.
Woodies were far more common with S and D mints since the Philly mint kept the best mixed blanks for themselves and pawned the improperly mixed blanks off on the branch mints.
