Thanks for opening the thread back up. I think it is an appropriate time by now, and hopefully @girldly is on at some point to post the results.
I bet most of the money sent to PCGS was for the membership fee. The "Best Deal" sticker on PCGS's site is for diamond membership. That is a cost of $349.00. That gets pretty close to her $450.00 in total costs. Geez she said she was new. Less than 3 years ago I had no idea who these entities were either. If she is a troll, it won't last long. Its the internet.
Haven't read all of this 10 page post, but would be interested to know your "extremely easy" way to make the zinc coated and brass coated cents. Whenever I did it with classes, it was a kind of nasty, tricky procedure.
Just want to wish the OP all the best, hope for the best and expect the worst. Just wish you had posted here and waited awhile before sending it off. Once again - Good Luck
Well the sodium hydroxide can be nasty if your not careful with it for sure. The zinc dust I suppose also presents another chemical hazard. With a little common sense and protective precautions though you can do an entire roll of cents in maybe ten minutes. I will say I've seen way too many videos on Youtube and the like where people take no precautions what so ever though. Including some truly cringe worthy ones with people having their faces over the boiling NaOH solution breathing in the vapors carelessly. So I guess while I find the procedure extremely easy it does have the potential to turn out very nasty though.
Are you in chemistry some way? Yeah, hot sodium hydroxide is not something to play around with. I have had classes where almost all of the students were coughing from the fumes, even those 30 feet away. I kind of remember another procedure using zinc chloride, thought this was what you were referring to.
You guys sure know your science. I can assure you that we in no way tampered with this cent. Wouldn't PCGS turned around immediately and returned the cent to us if it was plated...or tampered with? Plus, why would anyone do that? Coins are lovely, it makes no sense to me. Wouldn't the coin dealer of 25 plus years recognize plating on a coin? Why was he so eager to purchase it from me? These are questions I will have to wait and see what PCGS says. Anyone know how long a XRF-metal composition takes?
Not unless you count taking college level Chem 1/2 and Organic Chem as being involved in chemistry. I did learn a great deal from those courses though and did enjoy them. Although I never considered staying in that field of study area career wise. I only needed them to satisfy certain lab science electives and once I passed the courses that was about as far as I went with chemistry.
I was just wondering since you said you had done this with your kids. I have never done this outside of a lab.
The weight is 3.1 - I stand corrected on I wish to correct a statement I made above. I stated that our penny was thicker, in looking at the photos, the side view, I meant should have said that the rim around the coin seems to have a deeper impression, and slightly taller than the other pennies I put side by side. The weight is correct as a cent: 3.11. The pennies I put side by side were worn from use, so since my husband kept it in the Milk Box all those years, it did not suffer the wear the coins normally get. I could be wrong...I certainly am no expert.
Boy am I tired, please excuse the terrible English, I meant should have said, Ohhh! Let me rephrase that: What I should have said was: Our penny seems to have a deeper impression around the rim, and that is looked slightly taller than the other pennies I put side by side. I am tired, and my typo's show when I am tired. Still waiting on the results. Thanks for getting involved. Girldly
Thank you Wheatmaster101, I am still waiting on PCGS. I have no idea what will happen, it is still a wait and see. I am certain to some of you that you are aware I am a new collector, but I am learning. It takes a lot of time. I will tell everyone the results.
Please, never say the word "Troll" again...that person really over did it. Yes, the money hurts, bad, but, I did not have any idea....Thank you, Girldly