1990 D Zinc Colored Penny

Discussion in 'Error Coins' started by Acoinaday, Jul 15, 2018.

?

Is this unusual?

  1. What do you think

  2. Is this an error

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  1. Acoinaday

    Acoinaday New Member

    Is this an anomaly? Silver colored 1990 D Penny?
     

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  3. rickmp

    rickmp Frequently flatulent.

    Photos of both sides of the entire coin would go a long way in getting an opinion.
     
  4. Acoinaday

    Acoinaday New Member

    This is my first post. Sorry
     

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  5. Brian Nguyen

    Brian Nguyen Active Member

    Have you weight it yet? How much does it weight? It look like plated to me or some high school experimental science project.
     
  6. rickmp

    rickmp Frequently flatulent.

    Nice pics!
    I'd be inclined to call that an unplated planchet.
    Can you get a few pics of the edge?
    There will be others around soon to give you a better idea of what you have.
     
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  7. Acoinaday

    Acoinaday New Member

    Here are a couple of edge pics.
     

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  8. Acoinaday

    Acoinaday New Member

  9. Acoinaday

    Acoinaday New Member

    I used a different scale and got 2.6 grams. A wheat on my scale weighs 3.0 grams
     
  10. rickmp

    rickmp Frequently flatulent.

    Please don't hold coins with metal tweezers! You WILL do damage to them.
    3 grams is high. Does your scale weigh out to two decimal points?
    Your coin should weigh 2.5 grams (+/- 0.10 gram) and just a little less than that with no plating.

    I see no evidence of your coin ever having its copper plate.
    That's my opinion, but I may be wrong. There will be others here soon with more info.
    If it is unplated, it's a great find.
     
  11. Brian Nguyen

    Brian Nguyen Active Member

    Unplated Planchet should be around 2.4grs. Was your scale calibrated, and accurate?
     
  12. Aleph

    Aleph Well-Known Member

    I would assume it is zinc plated. This is quite an easy thing to do- my friends and I used to do this for school demonstrations. After plating, you can heat the cents and they will turn bright gold colored as the zinc alloys with the copper to form brass. Yours looks old. We usually preferred to do it on shiny cents as the zinc plating would give a shiny surface. Not sure how you can tell if it’s a legit error but I can tell you when I finished with the cents, i dumped them into my change bowl so they eventually went back into circulation.
     
  13. Conder101

    Conder101 Numismatist

    I would say either plated or someone has done a very good job of removing the copper plating. A non-plated cent should have smooth surfaces and show cartwheel luster. On this coin the surfaces are rough and there is no cartwheel.
     
  14. I have a 1990 where it looks as if the copper plating was applied correctly.
     

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  15. Burton Strauss III

    Burton Strauss III Brother can you spare a trime? Supporter

    There are three possibilities

    1. Unplated planchet - this would be struck full-on by the dies and would be sharp and clear and would weigh 2.5g

    2. Plated struck coin - nickel, chrome, zinc over the copper plating. It would have a little mushy appearance as the overplating doesn't quite follow the details as evenly. Weight around 2.5g (you can't measure the weight of a few microns of plating with any scale outside of lab grade equipment).

    3. Acid stripped. Would weigh around 2.5g (stripping off a couple of microns of copper plating isn't measurable either). Will leave a rough finish and likely some copper in the nooks and cranies. as the acid doesn't get everywhere evenly.

    #3 is most likely
     
  16. Quite a nice analysis. I will read other sites to fully understand your observations. The coin is smooth and doesn't feel rough, or look rough to me though.

    This would be post mint then?
    Thanks Burton.
     
  17. Conder101

    Conder101 Numismatist

    It has had enough wear/abrasion that it is worn through the copper plating on the high areas exposing the zinc.
     
  18. Collecting Nut

    Collecting Nut Borderline Hoarder

    I see just enough on the surface to make me think that coin has had that thin copper layer stripped away.
     
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