Just wanted some opinions, was going through my wheat pennies and noticed one that stood out from the others, it is a 1942 D but it has a gold color to it like brass, I immediately thought 42 on an Ecuadorian 25¢ piece, when I weigh it it only weighs 3.2 grams and it should weigh around 4 to be the error, but I just can't get past the color. Could it be on some other planchette? Here's some pics along with comparison to other 42 D's. Thanks for your help
Looks like a dirty Cent. And the correct word is Planchet not planchette. Planchette - Wikipedia A planchette from the French for "little plank", is a small, usually heart-shaped flat piece of wood equipped with two wheeled casters and a pencil-holding ...
Looks totally normal, you will find cents toned almost any imaginable color depending on their environment. This one looks like it may have been rubbed on the high points at some time leaving it brighter color.
It's the correct planchet. If it's really 3.2 it's slightly heavy but still within spec. The reason I say it's the correct planchet is this, the planchet can't be larger as it won't fit in the machine, so, it has to be the same size or smaller. Occasionally a foreign coin turns up that is almost the same size or weight. The US makes sure that other coins aren't the same size as theirs, so less expensive coins don't fit vending machines, parking meters, toll booths etc. (There are a couple of exceptions, Panama, and another country whose money is tied 1:1 with US, so some of their older coins are the same size and metal content.) So, generally to be the wrong planchet the coin MUST be smaller, and in that case you would never have full complete rims as your coin shows.
If that were the case then why does this NGC certified 1942 D wrong planchette error coin have full rims like mine?
Because a few 1942 and 1943 cents were struck on cent planchets but different compositions. Bronze (copper) and zinc coated steel. Being the correct size planchets will result in a properly struck coin with full rims. There is speculation about this being a mint employee assisted occurence
So many different things can affect color that it is probably the least definitive thing to base anything on. size, and weight are much more reliable. While your coin is ever so slightly on the heavier side of normal, it is still well within tolerance. there is just nothing about it to indicate anything other than a normal cent.
Your cent is a normal cent with environmental issues, possibly cleaned years ago and re-toned , but it is normal. I have a 1920 Wheat cent struck on a 10 Cent Argentina planchet as you can see it has full rims just wasn't thick enough to get a good strike on the reverse.
