I came across this coin and I can't figure out why it's a different color than I'm used to seeing. I believe it's an 1868 3 cent piece. All of my other 3 cent pieces are nickel in color. This appears to be copper. Someone, please straighten me out!
First, welcome to CT! Second, agreed, unusual color, and it does not appear to have been buried. I am sure that we'll get some interesting theories shortly.
The 3 cent piece in cupro-nickel is actually 75% copper - so in the right conditions it will tone like copper. I have a nickel somewhere that I found on the shore of the Potomac River in Maryland once that otherwise would look like an old cent.
I'm gonna say it was buried, hence the color. I have found many a buried nickel whose only problem was that they turned maroon like that
Thanks for the great feedback. Would it hurt to try and clean this coin to see if I can bring back some of the original color?
Other than taking the verdigris(the greenish black stuff) off with a dull toothpick, I would leave the piece alone. The verdigris can be harmful to the coin in the long term. Taking the darkened patina off the coin will destroy it as far as a collectable.
Buried Shield and V nickels often take on that very dark color. Since the three cent is the same alloy I would expect it to do the same. As far as I know there is no way to remove that dark color short of abrasive cleaning.
