Can anyone here help me figure out what these are? They arrived with a couple of Morgans that I bought recently and were folded into a small corner of my invoice and marked "for you, free" Not thinking too much about them, and always the skeptic I thought I'd ask here for opinions. The bottom is the silver looking one and the top has more of an uncirculated copper look to it. What say ye coin maesters?
First, welcome to the neighborhood! It happens that 1958 was the last year of the Lincoln "Wheatie". It was followed by the Lincoln "Memorial" from 1959 until 2008. I can't be 100% positive from your photo, but the silvery color may be the result of someone dipping it to change it's color. You see, 1943 was the only year in which copper was not used for the Lincoln cent because copper was needed for the war effort. Instead, the 1943 cents were made from zinc-coated steel. Chris
Thank you for your warm welcome. I have two 1943 Steel pennies, but these two with 1958 were new to me so I wasn't sure what they were. I do appreciate y'all taking the time to offer your help! Have a great week!
I teach chemistry and one of the labs students do is called the silver and gold pennies lab. In the lab, they make a thin coating of zinc on a penny, and if they shine it up, it kind of looks like silver. Next they can put the zinc coated penny on a hotplate and heat it up till the zinc amalgamates with the copper to make a brass coated penny. Looks like this is what you got.
