88-d no copper cent

What are the chances of finding a newer cent missing the copper clad? I was going through a couple rolls over my lunch hour and found an 88-d cent with no copper. At first I thought cool, someone removed the copper, but it appears to still have mint luster.I got a little exited. I will try and post some pics tonight.
If it's real, does anybody have a guess at value?

 

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There is a huge difference between "clad", used on dimes, quarters, halves and dollars; and "plating", used on cents.

The copper plating can be removed from zincolns fairly easily by a variety of chemicals, some of which affect the surface appearance of the the zinc, and some of which don't. Without a picture of your coin, the chances of accurately attributing it are 1 in 1,000,000. With clear pictures, it's only 1 in 50 or so.

 

A naked Lincoln

Aha! I thought that title might make you look.

vipergts2 is planning to post a copperless Lincoln...

I have only the picture of this Lincoln that my sister-in-law found in her pocket change. Now I think it might be one of those that has had its copper chemically removed. Yet, you can still see tiny spots of copper on it.
I finally purchased a very nice gram scale, but the cent has gone south so I cannot weigh it to see if it is a little 'light' for its specifications. Drat!

jeankay

 

If I can get a pic on tonight hopefully it will shed some light. I may try and get a weight also.

 

The 1986-D pictured looks altered.

And weight won't tell you anything on these. The mint tolerance on the zinc cents is +/- .1 grams and the weight of the plating is either .05 or .005 grams (I don't remember which.) Either way it is smaller than the tolerance allowance.

 

Here are some pics of the one I found, and one pic of a normal cent under the same lighting.

 

scans

here are some scans.
There is a bigger color difference in hand.

 

Oh Darn! that close of a difference/non-difference?
Hardly worth thinking about now.
Thanks for the info.
jeankay

 

Thanks for the pics vipergts2.
Sure are interesting specimens, aren't they?
What bugs me about them is that the condition is otherwise rather good.
Not much sign of wear and bag marks... yeh, except for the lack of copper.
Do you think these might have accidentally been dropped in a pot of acidic chemical as someone's science experiment and later discarded?
It is mind-boggling to think what a coin has gone through in it's lifetime.
jeankay

 

What really makes me wonder is the mint luster that appears to be left.