Going through my coins I see some of similarly-named composition, and I'm wondering, what's the difference between "Nickel-Clad," "Nickel-Bonded," and "Nickel-Plated?" 1. Nickel-Clad examples Ecuador | 1 Sucre | 1988-1992 | km89 | Nickel-Clad Steel Romania | 1 Leu | 1963 | km90 | Nickel-Clad Steel 2. Nickel-Bonded examples Fiji | 50 Cents | 1990+ | km54a | Nickel-Bonded Steel Netherlands Antilles | 25 Cents | 1989+ | km35 | Nickel-Bonded Steel 3. Nickel-Plated examples Canada | 10 Cents | 2003+ | km492 | Nickel-Plated Steel Poland | 100 Zlotych | 1985 | y157 Nickel-Plated Steel My curiosity thanks you ... --Dan
I really hate to disagree with the Great Guru, but that's only true of nickel-clad and nickel-bonded coins, which began as "sandwiches" of separate sheets of nickel and whatever the core happens to be, that were then rolled or otherwise pressed together under high pressure, resulting in the separate metal layers attaching to each other. Nickel plating, however, is the result of an electrochemical process in which molecules of nickel are attached to the core material. The most visible difference is that clad/bonded coins generally have an edge on which the core material is visible, but plated coins have a nickel edge as well as nickel faces. Just think of the difference between US clad quarters, with their copper-colored edges, and copper-plated zinc cents, which are a uniform color on all three sides. Also, in general, there is a bunch more nickel in a clad or bonded coin than in a plated one. Alloyed coins such as cu-ni, on the other hand, have molecules of each metal intermixed, while the metals used for clad/bonded/plated coins retain their separate integrity.
