Now here's one you don't see everyday. I think I'm qualified enough by experience to say it's not electroplated, given that as a kid we used to horse around with that. I've seen these on dime planchets, both silver and clad, but this almost looks like nickel to me, or maybe a crude, irony-steel. That's about my limit, though; need some help. Thanks!
You say it looks like a nickel - how big is it and what does it weigh ? It looks like an ordinary cent to me with the copper plating wearing off due to corrosion.
No, it doesn't look the size of a nickel, it looks like that kind of metal. Or maybe some kind of impure steel. You're saying that's the zinc after the copper wore away? I don't know. It looks grey to me, and silverish where the grey is chipped away.
OK, I'm going to take another swing at this. I just got it yesterday, BTW. Copper has a lower melting point than zinc, no? So, how hard is it to torch off the copper on these? There's not much copper there, to begin with. That would also seem to explain the blackened appearance on the underlying zinc. The only other thing I can think of is (if this isn't a freak planchet), that the coin missed the plating process, and escaped "raw." Keep swinging, right? But really, I don't know what else this could be.
A simple test on a balance (popsicle stick across a pencil with a cent on each end) would probably answer the question.
If it is nickel or steel, it should be magnetic whereas zinc or copper isn't. I'm pretty sure it's either the copper plating has fallen off which reveals the awful color zinc, which is often greyish in color.
That helps, thanks. I was concerned about this blackened-greyish color. It can be characteristic of zinc, then. OK. GD: I have a balance scale someplace, and when I get some time, I'll try and dig it up. In the meantime, how's my credit around here; am I good for a couple more questions? When the Mint gets these (I guess I want to call them "blanks"), they're zinc, right, and the Mint applies the plating to them afterwards? Also, when does that take place--before the blank is struck, or afterwards? In other words, I'm trying to distinguish between an altered coin, and a coin that missed a process. I don't think this was subject to any normal corrosion, if not for the fact that there's not a trace of copper left on this coin, under 10x magnification. Plus, we've all seen some of these really beat up, and they're still pretty "coppery." That leads me to think, either somebody took a blow torch to this one--burning off every last trace of the copper plating, and leaving this blackiened-greyish appearance on the zinc--or, this just escaped the plating process, at the Mint. Need to zero-in on that step, though (when the plating is applied), to be able to have any confidence, either way.
All cent planchets are made outside the mint, that includes the copper plating, and are delivered to the mint ready to be struck. With other denominations, large coils of coin strip are delivered to the mint. At the mint the planchets are cut, polished, washed and then struck.
OK, that tells me something. I'm wondering, now, whether they just sent a "freak" (no plating) over to the Mint. If not, I guess I'm going to have to dig up my blow torch, now, too, and see if that theory is creditable. I wonder if it's possible to torch the copper plating off these. Again, there's not even a hint of it left on this one.
Well, what a coincidence, I just spoke to a pipe-fitter. He assures me that there's no way the copper plating could have been "torched off" without seriously impairing the underlying design. Look at the Lincoln Memorial--you can count most of the steps. All of which leads me to believe, now, that this a zinc planchet that escaped the attention of the Mint, they struck it, and it got out into circulation, where it was then subjected to normal wear and tear. How does that go down? :thumb:?
It would go down just fine, except the pic you provided has the color of a copper plated cent - not a zinc planchet. Or - if you were to tell us that checked the weight against another cent and this one was lighter.
No Zinc has a much lower melting point than copper. Zinc melts just below 800 degrees, copper is about a thousand degrees higher. The copper plating can be removed by an acid reaction. It doesn't leave the surface of the zinc very nice.
The surface is covered with tiny bumps. They are not blisters in the plating. The bumps indicate something was done to the coin outside the Mint. It might be corroded or the plating might have been chemically stripped.
This sure looked like a planchet or metal error to me when I started. I'll weight it just to double-check when I can find a scale. In the interim, let me just say, thanks for this learning experience...you've got me convinced.
Hi, The coin is corroded. Thats really all there is to it. Any metal detectorist has seen modern cents like this. Thanks, Bill
