As @Kentucky said. I have a few Indian Head cents that have different colorings. IMO someone cleaned them in the past. I'm not an expert on this so it's only my opinion. When I was very young we'd come across these cents occasionally and clean them with various chemicals. Some of them came out bright pink, orange, or a coppery gray color. Can't image what we destroyed.
As @Kentucky said, cents can take on a whole variety of different colorations based on the environment they were stored in. In-part, that is one of the most fascinating things when collecting cents. I agree. My initial reaction aside from plating was old cleaning. The coin looks as though it was cleaned a while ago, since it has had time to re-oxidize and tarnish that signature brown coloration. I likewise used to clean wheat cents when I found them in circulation, so seeing coins with old cleaning remind me of that wonderful time of curiosity, which is evidently shared by many other collectors.
Now I'm wondering how a copper coin can take on a silver color regardless of how many times they have been cleaned ? It may have been plated some time in the past but would be about impossible to say for sure from just looking at photos.
Yes you are correct but this is a big world and CT covers a lot of different countries and folks puts the odd ones on here . Anything could be possible as others have found some valuable off metal coins. I will say this one sure does look to be good in the photo . I would not know exactly what it is from just the photo.
Just wonder what your collection really is??? All us coins on foreign planchette? It seems you are saying this on almost every thread... polished/cleaned coin.
Should I try cleaning it to take a better picture? And if so what would I use? I know it's not worth anything but it's kinda cool.
No do not clean your coin because it will destroy it. Don't listen to much of what coin members says because a lot of them seems to be newbies and will say anything. Get someone that knows about error coins to examine the coin. It sure looks good in the photos. You need to weigh this coin , I would love to know the weight of it.
The coins my friends and I cleaned would occasionally get a grayish/silvery color because of the reaction to the chemical. We didn't even know what chemical we used. There was a factory nearby and on the street we'd find small, soft, gray pebble sized pieces that we rubbed onto the coins then tried to wipe it off and sometimes the coin remained that gray/silvery color. Don't know why.
How interesting. I wonder what it was. Maybe some sort of strange, soft slag. Perhaps it may have contained lead?
