1982 Zinc cent missing copper identification

Is there a good way to tell an actual missing copper zinc cent from one that was plated or altered in some other way? I found one today and have looked at it under a microscope and don't see any hint of copper anywhere on the coin. The coin has original looking features so I'm fairly sure no chemicals were used to remove the copper layer. I can post pictures Thursday, I haven't taken any yet. It may be an obviously altered coin to many of you and I'll look like an idiot for not seeing it myself, but I have to ask because it looks interesting to me. Any pictures of an original example would be appreciated.

 

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Here are some PIX of the coin.











If this is an obviously plated coin please let me know how you tell that it is from the pictures. I know the pictures could be better but I don't have a tripod or copy stand yet. Thanks for the help.

 

Whew, that thing has been taken to acid, or some sort of chemicals and scraping IMO. Those scratches and marks kind of make it evident though. Sorry man. Keep it though, a neat conversation piece to say the least.

Phoenix

 

how much would that be worth?

 

Really? Wow, man I was way wrong. Sorry man. Congratulations are in order then I guess! Nice find. :thumb:

Phoenix

 

I don't have a scale that weighs to the 10th or 100th of a gram. The scale I do have weighed all the copper cents I tried at 4 grams and all the zinc cents at 2 grams. This one also weighed in at 2 grams so I think it's a zinc cent. Now is there a way to tell for sure if it's been plated? It does have areas of wear on the highest points of Lincoln and the memorial where the silver is more dull but with no copper showing.

This person has sold 1 missing copper cent and has this one for sale on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/1982-D-Slabbed-...ryZ31373QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
This one looks very dark and rough compared to mine and made me wonder if this is what a zinc cent would look like before the copper layer was added or would the pressure from the minting process make it be smooth and shiny like the one I found?

 

Pure zinc in acid would be gone is less than a minute.



There is no way to tell if it is an unplated zinc cent or a zinc plated zinc cent. THe only way I can think of to tell is to file the coin, but that would ruin it.

 

looks like it was dyed.

 

I am far from the most knowledgeable on these, but I would guess that the coin has been dipped in mercury. It is kind of hard to tell from the photos (or any photo for that matter), but again the weight could tell.

 

Weight wou't tell you a thing. From what I see it could either be the real thing, or a zinc plated copper plated zinc cent. I think on thing the it has going for it is the lack of plating bubbles which were VERY common on the early copper plated zinc cents.

By the way, from the pictures I think the PCI unplated zinc cent has had the plating stripped off. The surfaces are much too rough. A genuine non-plated cent in high grade should have smooth lusterous surfaces not rouh pitted ones. That is what you would expect from a chemical stripping.

 

The weight would absolutely tell you if it had be replated with zinc or dipped in mercury so long as you weighed it in grams to 2 places accuracy. Either of them would add a noticeable amount to the weight.

 

Except the mints allowed tolerance for the zinc cent is +/- .1 grams. So a normal cent can weigh anywhere between 2.4 and 2.6 grams I worked out the weight of the copper plating one time and it is .05 grams. An added zinc plating would be about .03 grams. So if you have typical zinc cent you could strip off the plating, or add an extra zinc plating and it would not be definitely detectable by weight.

A coating of Mercury just might be detectable, but it would have to at least four times thicker than the copper plating is to be absolutely sure. and if it is that thick I'm sure you would be able to visibly tell it was there. A mercury coating as thick as the copper plating is weighs .06 grams. (And the copper plating is actually considered to be rather thick. It is very easy to put a thinner layer on and still achieve the color you are shooting for. And the weight change will be even less.)

So, since you can't know what the original starting weight of the coin actually was, weighing it really won't tell you much. (Unless it started out at the heavy end of the tolerance range, after the plating or coating it will still be within the tolerance range.

 

You are assuming that someone can duplicate the original production results with all of their high tonnage rolls and presses. I sincerely doubt that it can be done on a single cent - at least practically. Also, mercury is considerably heavier than either copper or zinc

 

I ordered a scale that weighs to .01 grams so I'll post the weight once I get it. If weight may still be a question mark is there any other way to tell if it's been plated with something without damaging the coin?

 

Nah you can do a good plating job with a glass jar, a few chemicals, and a $5 DC charger. I'm not makin the coin, I'm just electroplating it.

And yes mercury is heavier than copper or zinc. That was figured into the weights I gave. The copper plating weighs .05 grams. Mercury is 28% heavier than copper so a layer of the same thickness would weigh .064 grams or rounded to two places .06 grams So to be sure of exceeding the weight tolerance on the cent the mercury layer would have to be four times thicker than the copper plating is. Or about the thickness of a sheet of paper