My guess would be that the coin was at one time mostly or completely black. It was then dipped to death, and has since acquired that really weird color. Assuming that color in the pics is accurate.
whatever happened to the indian cent beats me thats how it was when i got it. jut wanted input from other coin people.
Looks to be a bad experiment for a vinegar/salt bath. That cent is pretty much toast to condition sensitive collectors.
At this time, to preserve what is left, try acetone and cotton swab to remove any residue and/or remaining dirt/grime, then place it in a 2X2 (air tight or otherwise).
I think from what I read here that old copper pennies should be brown or black. If they are orange, they should have luster. You also have to take in consideration that a lot of old coins have been cleaned as well so if you suspect it, it probably was at one time could have been 100 years ago. Not that I know much about cleaning detection, just going by statistics. Maybe it was black and ugly and someone tried to do something about it when cleaning coins wasn't an issue.
