My wife made a rather strange find the other day. After walking out of a local department start she went to put her change in her wallet and noticed something strange about a dime she received. The dime was actually a penny. It's a 1990 penny that appears to be in perfect condition. No flaws in shape or design anywhere. The strange part is that the penny appears to have been stamped from a dime blank. At first I though that it might be coated with something or that it was a special stuck coin. I've been collecting coins for about 10 years or so now and after pouring thought my available material I can find nothing on the coin. I'm not very well educated when it comes to error coins so I decided this would be the best place to ask if anyone knew of anything like this. If you’re interested let me know and I'll try and post a picture of it. I have a rather nice digital camera, but I can't seem to get the quality pics that are usually posted on this site of the coin. Thanks for any information.
In the place of a picture, Unless you want to be like me and post a picture even if its not the best, give the exact size and weight of the coin,, Rick
Hello, Sure we're interested. Please have it weighed to within 1/100th of a gram, and post good, clear pictures of the front, back, and most importantantly, the edge of the coin. (or at least, do your best)
Here are a few pics. Sorry they aren't too good. I'm going to try and weight it today. I put a digital caliper on it yesterday and it has the same measurements as a normal penny. The edge is just like a penny also. That is what's strange to me. In every way it's just like a normal penny except for the alloy it's made of.
I haven't been following coin talk all that long, but I try to share what I've learned about "odd colored" Lincolns.... The nature of copper makes it readily bond to many different kinds of medals. As such, the penny is often used in plating experiments anywhere from the idle chemist in the work place to home science kits, to who knows where else. Also, gold and silver plated lincolns are found and posted to the forum somewhat frequently. If the weight comes up very close the same as a standard penny, then most likely, your penny has been plated. If your still not sure, best advice I've read is take the coin to your local coin shop and have them look it over. If it is a penny stamped on a dime planchet, then you've got a great error coin for your collection. My guess would be plated though, but I'll leave it to the resident experts here P.S. Welcome to the forum.
Howdy jesse - Welcome to the Forum !! I would be inclined to go along with the idea of the cent being plated as it appears to be the correct size. But it is also possible that is an ordinary cent missing the copper clad layer. Weighing the coin will provide the answer. A tough heavy = plated. A bit to light = missing clad layer.
