Brass 1976 Penny

I HAVE 1976 D PENNY? THE COLOR IS WAY OFF FROM ANY PENNY THAT I'VE SEEN IN MY LIFE. I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIND INFORMATION FOR WEEKS AND NOTHING FOR THIS YEAR. I DONT KNOW WHAT THE COLOR OF COPPER/ZINC IS BUT THIS ONE LOOKS TO BE A YELLOW,GOLD, OR BRASS? TYPE COLOR. WHEN I DROP A 1967 PENNY IN GLASS THEN THIS 1976 PENNY INTO GLASS THE RING IS DIFFERANT. I ALSO TRIED A MAGNET AND I COULD NOT GET ANY OF MY CHANGE TO STICK. I HERD A PENNY OFF THIS YEAR SHOULD WEIGH 2.5 GRAMS BUT I HAVE NOT HAD ACCESS TO A SCALE. PLEASE GIVE ME ANY INFO YOU CAN ON THIS RARE FIND. THANK YOU, ASHLEY P.S SORRY FOR THE 3RD GRADE SPELLING, ENGLISH WAS NOT MY GOODEST CLASS.

 

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More than likely its plated...if you can post a photo it might help.

Speedy

 

1976--Please don't yell at us (type in all caps) it is rather rude. As for your coin, copper can tarnish (tone) to look like brass, but my guess is that the chemical composition of the metal was just off a little. Brass is ~75% Copper and ~25% Zinc while the propper composition of a 1976 cent is 95% copper and 5% zinc. It is not unheard of for the metals to not be perfectly alloyed and my guess is that is what happened to your coin. If that is the case I'd imagine that it has very little additional collector value.

 

I have one of those pennies also. does not ring like any other penny. The weight on a gigital scale is 3.0, it does look so different that I would like to also if it is a penny that just has a bad mix of metals. I've never seen one like it.

 

You might want to take it to a jeweler and ask them nicely if they can get a precise weight on it.

The earlier opinions given are most likely correct, though. It is most likely either has a nonstandard alloy or is plated. There is always the off-chance, though, that it was struck on a foreign planchet, etc.

 

Non capitalized

I have a 1976-D penny. The color is way off from any penny that I have seen in my life. I have been trying to find information for weeks and nothing for this year. I don’t know what the color of copper/zinc is but this one looks to be of yellow, gold, or brass like color. When I drop a 1967 penny in a glass, then I drop the 1976 penny into the glass the ring is different. I penny is also non-magnetic. I heard a penny of this year should weigh 2.5 grams but I have not had access to a scale. Please give me any info you can on this rare find. Thank you, Ashley
P.S. Sorry for the third grade spelling, English was not my best class.

 

By the way, a cent of 1976 should weigh 3.11 grams. It was only in 1982 that the weight was changed to 2.5 grams.

 

WELCOME TO THE FORUM. I noticed this is post #1 so WELCOME
And never worry about you spelling here. This ain't no Grammer forum.
If someone knows what your saying, you speak American. English went out with that war we had with them.
As to your coin. Note your coin is .950 % Copper and .050 Zinc and Tin. That means your coin IS Brass. There are many reasons your coin could look like that.
1. It was polished with auto polish as a sample how it works on cars. Done by sales people
2. Polished with some type of metal polish to make it look new.
3. Coated by kids as a joke with numerous different things. Some just use a lot of spit, soap, etc.
4. Electroplated in a chem class as an experiment.
5. The Mint made a mistake and your coin is pure Gold.

 

Most of this is erroneous.
1. Copper when tarnishing turns brown, not brightening. This is caused by combining with Oxygen forming CuO. This is nothing like a Brass finish.
2. Typing in all capatals is NOT rude at all. In fact most PROFESSI0NAL Mechanical and especially Electrical drawings are all in Capatals. Architect drawings on the other hand are usually all in small case and occationally slanted text. Of course this all depends on the Engineering firm and the clients.
3. Brass as a general rule is Copper with 1% Tin and 30% Zinc but this varies excessively pending on the final results required.
A. Hardness B. Flexability C. Polishability D. Melting differences.
4. The name changes to Bronze as you deminish the amount of Zinc and add elements such as Manganese, Aluminum and even Silicon.

As I usually tell people. This is America. We speak American. Our history proves if we like a word, pharse or spelling, eventually we will adopt it.
The English can't force us to use their language although we still call it that in schools.

 

They come that way from time to time.

The color is probably just a result of the planchet material, a chemical reaction or is plated - I look at up to 7000 Lincoln's each week and I see colors and more colors - I have opened up rolls of BU brass colored cents many times - the dates have been 1942, 1961 and 62, 1974 thru 1079 and 1985, 1997, 98, and 99 - I'm sure there are others. I have coins toned every color of the rainbow and love finding them. Hint, if the coin is not a nice fresh mint state coin there is know way to determine what really happened other than showing it to seasoned collector are someone that can test it but be assured we find stuff in all kinds of colors.
Hope this helps,
Ben Peters

 

Copper usually does turn brown but this is not absolute.

What Carl said is mostly true but not entirely - I have pulled coins from original bank wrapped rolls that have been Red, Green, Blue, Orange, Yellow and Purple or a combination of these. Some I have sold for upward of $65 for a coin that cost me a cent and half such as a 76P or 62P - now granted they are one in a multiple of thousands of cents but I have some down here that I would not sell for $200 they are unbelievable. Plus many Indians esp. proofs have fabulous toning of the above colors most often Blue, Rose and Purple - so it is not a fact that all copper turns brown - what about copper roofs?

Ben Peters,
"Nothing is set in stone so much as our opinion of ourselves"

 

Doesn't Ken Potter market these brass cents? Pics would be a plus.

 

Bronze by definition is any alloy that contains copper and tin the addition of other elements merely changes the type of bronze.
Brass by definition is any alloy combination of copper and zinc unless it contains tin in which case it is a bronze. Since the ratio of copper and zinc ca be any amount, the color can also cover a wide range. For this reason composition can't be really determined by the color.

a 95% copper 5% zinc and tin alloy is bronze not brass. However the tin was removed from the cent in 1963 so the composition of the 1976 cent is 95% copper 5% zinc. No tin. So you are correct that a 1976 cent IS brass.

 

I found a penny like like that 1976 D and weight 2.1 g. So if the coin is gold plated sould weight more than 3.11 right?

 

2005, then 2009, and back again



That coin is, at best plated.

As in your other post.

 

holy thread bump

 

Almost 10 years later...
http://koinpro.tripod.com/Brass.htm

 

alexyyuri, your scale is set to pennyweights (dwt), not grams. Press the mode button a couple of times till you see a small g on the right side of the display.

 

And posting this in three threads is two threads too many.