1983 One Cent Error?

Is the cent on the left of normal composition? It weighs 2.4 grams.

 

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It's only a gram light,well within tolerance and perfectly normal,don't forget to check for the DDR.

 

the color is normal?

 

I don't know what you misread in the OP, but there is no world where a US coin is allowed to be off by a full gram! That is ridiculous. https://forums.collectors.com/discu...st-of-the-allowed-tolerance-for-most-us-coins

It is far more likely that the scale used is inaccurate.

 

Took me a while to find the right reference.
@Hommer
These cents were in either the CPG or strike it rich.
Paul Hayward New Member (CT)
An explanation posted in Numismaster 7/29/09 stated the following; "There were brass-plated cents struck in 1983 and 1985 but not brass cents. There is a very important distinction between a brass and a brass-plated cent. A brass cent would have been struck on a solid brass planchet - 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc. Beginning in 1982, the cent planchets were changed to a copper-plated zinc. In both 1983 and 1985 batches of the coins got overheated in processing and the zinc core bled into the copper plating, turning it into a brass plating." More recently, the list of specimens having this appearance has been expanded to include the dates 83, 85D, 97, 97D and 98. It will be interesting to see whether these will be considered composition varieties or errors when all the dust finally settles... - PH Paul Hayward, Mar 27, 2017#5+ QuoteReply (Cited from: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/brass-lincoln-cent.93024/)

 

The op stated it weighs 2.4 gramspcgs says 2.5??did the op mess up.About the color I see some carbon spots most likely it was just a environmental factor.

 

No. Not a gram.

 

What's 2.5 - 2.4?

 

How could one prove that this happened at the Mint and not afterward?

 

No, you said "It's only a gram light"

I think you might have meant 0.1 grams light?

 

0.1 gram light (not plural)

 

A 1983 cent should weigh 2.5 with a mint tolerance of +/- 0.100 or 2.4 to 2.6
2.4 is in mint tolerance
Many things can cause discolorations such as heat or environmental factors.

 

So we're fighting this battle now? I guess everyone must have stopped saying "pennies" for cents?

 

Well a fan of physics, as I am of math, should know that units under 1 is not more than1. Therefore, 1.01 grams, but 0.99 gram. Sorry, but not really the battle you are referring to.

 

I don't know how to do a non destructive test to prove it's brass plating. XRF, XRD or SEM-EDS penetrate beyond the thickness of the 8 micron plating, so any analysis is going to include the zinc core.

So that means we are relying on a visual of color. No data, no analysis, just someone's opinion of color. The same opinion that has to be able to determine brass coatings from environmental color changes. I hardly believe you can have real data to say its brass plating, short of destructively removing the plating

BTW, I have a couple of these potential brass plating pieces that I pulled from circulation 30+ years ago. The color is right, but I can't prove it. Who can?

 

These were done with heat, not an off metal or plated.

 

Not sure what happened with my photo upload on the prior post

 

Thank you. I did some Googling and found this
https://koinpro.tripod.com/Brass.htm

 

I think you hit the point. The fact that you can not prove the brass plating is what will keep these coins from having value. They may be destined to become a novelty
among Lincoln collectors.

 

How can they be Mint Errors when the planchets are not made at the mint ?