Hello; I am not a coin collector. I have a question that has gone answered for years. I was hoping someone here would satisfy my curiosity. About 1972 I found a Canadian penny. It was perfect in every respect except it was made out of the metal or alloy that is used for nickels. I was just a small boy and my mother didn't think much of it. I understand that misprinted coins have special value. Can anyone shed some light on this or point me in the right direction. I did not test it so I cannot say if it was a hoax coin. Could it have been mis-stamped in such a fashion? Is there a record of such coins from that time period? Where might I find more information about it? Thank you.
When I was a kid I got a chemistry set for Christmas. One of the experiments was to plate copper cents with nickel. I've heard that lots of people did the same, some in school. This might be what you have. Weighing and measuring the coin might help.
If it was a true mint error, about the only thing it could be would be a cent struck on a ten cent planchet. Now the ten cent pieces in Canada at that time were made of pure nickel. Pure nickel is highly magnetic. See if your cent is strongly attracted to a magnet. If it is then it is probably a cent on ten cent planchet. If it isn't it is almost certainly just a plated cent.
