1964 Steel cent?

This pic is supposed to be a 1964 steel penny. The owner says it will stick to a magnet. Anyone ever hear of such a thing?

 

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How odd. . . . .

 

NEVER heard of this. I know of several mint errors in that year but not this. & thax to you I spent the better part of my lunch hour tring to stick 64 cents to a %$^&*# magnet.

Edited by GDJMSP 11/5/03 - let's go easy with the %$#&^

 

Yes, there IS such a thing as a 1964 steel penny. That year, they were thinking about switching the copper penny's materials...So, they gave all the US Senators a 1964 steel penny...When the Senate struck down the idea, the Mint asked for the steel cents to be returned...Most of the Senators complied, but some said that they had misplaced it or that they had lost it. Because they were never released to the pubic, now they are "illegal", and if the Secret Service finds the location of one of them, they'll confiscate them. There are just a few left in private hands, and there weren't many when they were created anyway...

 

Well, you have your information a little mixed up.The year was 1974 and the pennys were made of aluminum. The mint was so sure that the aluminum cent was going to be approved that they produced 1.5 million of them. They passed out a few dozen to key members of congress. When the copper miners lobbyists defeated the change the mint had to scramble to get the sample coins back. One congressman walked his coin over to the Smithsonian and donated it. You can find the story in the Sept 2002 issue of COINage mag.

 

Very nice picture! Yes,it's true,no 1964 steel Cents exist that were intentionally issued. It is possible that this coin may be a wrong planchet/wrong metal error.This would be a coin struck on a planchet intended for another(probably foreign) issue. Is it such a error? Wrong planchet errors are very rare and the odds are against it! The most likely thing is that your Cent was altered. I even have one that's been chromed! ~ Jim

 

Heres a better pic. The coin appears to be copper coated(wearing off) and steel underneath. And sticks to a magnet.

 

64 Steel Penny

I'm the owner of the penny Dock is talking about. My wife brought it to my attention as it seemed odd that a 40 year old penny would still be shiny (We were going through a bag of pennies looking for steelies and wheaties) I dropped it on a magnet and it stuck like glue. I'm doubting that it's copper on the surface, as there is no oxidation or tarnish...it looks better than pennies I have from the 90's. I'm at a loss. If it's real, when the heck did it come from...if it's fake, who the heck would bother?
The lack of tarnish almost makes me wonder if it's gold plated.
As I've said, I've never seen anything like it.

 

Looks like someone else found a cent like this one only a 1959. The thread is in the Error forum.

 

The 1959 appears to be plated,probably with steel or some other magnetic metal. ~ Jim

 

Magnetic Plating?

That raises a good question. Can plating material be magnetic?
The 1959 penny I have seems to have a steel composition shell on the outside. I suppose you could plate metal using an iron based solution but it would oxidize in the long term. I just don't know. Pictures below.

Thanks,
Jack

 

Jack,Check my reply in the Error World forum.The rim has a thin steel bans encasing it from a old bracelet. ~ Jim

 

1959D Penny

Hi Laz,

Received your message and posted reply in the error forum. Thanks for taking the time to rely.

Jack

 

I have 1964 steal penny stocks to magnet and I'm trying to find something on it

 

Could you weigh it and post images?

 

PMD, plated

 

It sticks to the magnet because it's been coated with some sort of metal by someone with nothing better to do.

 

Interesting, we would love to see it, can you take a picture?