Strange 1896 Indian Cent

I have had this Indian cent mixed in with the others since I was a boy, so the 1950's. The wear seems to show a white metal. The rim looks to be nickel. What do you think it is?

 

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May have been mercury coated which is wearing off.
Yeah, we did that back in the day. Most thermostats had mercury and they failed often so easily available

 

Username checks out...

 

Actually the red-brown surface has been worn down. Probably at one time both sides were similar with the whitish corrosion and wear remove it on the highest surfaces such as the rim. Whether on purpose or not would be unknown. IMO, Jim

 

Did you dig that coin up out of the ground? That looks kinda like environmental damage to me.

@paddyman98

 

The "Mad Hatter" in "Alice in Wonderland" was called that because hats in the day were made with mercury. After years of mercury exposure, milliners (aka. hatters) went crazy. So...don't play with your cent too much.

"Mercury was used in hat making to toughen the fur’s fibers and make them mat together more efficiently. The compound used to moisten the fibers was Mercury Nitrate Hg(NO₃)₂, and the process is called carroting. It produced a superior-quality felt, which in turn, resulted in higher-quality hats."

https://www.hatrealm.com/why-was-mercury-used-in-hat-production/

 

It would have been given to me by someone back in the late 50s looking exactly as it does now.

 

It was plated and now it’s wearing off so the copper is showing.

 

I took it to a jeweler to see if they could identify what is was plated with. Nope. Altered surface it is.

 

You might want to take it to a Chemist who could possibly do an analysis.
Mcpix, could the person you got it from possibly found it, on or in , the ground?

 

Anything is possible, do you think that might be

I suppose that's possible. Is that what an IHC would look like after years in the ground?

 

I'm not an expert but @paddyman98 should know.

 

I agree with plating that was worn off

 

I understand the curiosity, but from what I see the cent is copper. The foreign matter can be anything, but IMO the effort and cost of bringing it to chemist is not worth it for a cent that is worth about a dollar if that. Though I guess it is a conversation piece since many on the forum have been discussing it. Lol

 

I agree with your assessment of the "effort and cost of bringing it to (a) chemist", however, with all the questions and guesses, an analysis is the only absolutely definitive way to get the answer. I suggested the analysis as a definitive way to get the answer, but who needs a chemical analysis when we have @paddyman98 , which is why I called on him twice.

'nuff said.