ok, so i found this quarter while wrapping a bag off the coin counter this morning. i have found several similar coins in the past, and nearly every time they've been shown (thanks to the help of you all on this forum) to be acid dips or other pmd. while i believe that is likely the case with this "copper" quarter as well, i noticed something on it that makes me hesitate to write it off so quickly. it appears that both the obverse and reverse show sings of metal flow, or striations(?) in the fields, that radiate outward from the center of the coin. now, this coin has other issues that are pretty obvious as well, so i'm leaning towards pmd, but i was wondering if there can be other causes for the appearance of flow lines? thanks for your input!
I think we can rule out "missing planchet" because the planchet was struck into a coin. If the planchet was missing there would be no coin. Unless your white balance is WAY off your coin looks like an ordinary, well-circulated clad quarter, not a "copper quarter".
the white balance is way off, as i only have my smartphone (where the pics came from) and an old scanner to capture images while i'm at work. there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the surface of the coin is copper. here is a scan with a regular quarter for reference on the color balance.
Those are flow lines caused by a very worn die. Notice how they radiate from the center of the coin. That is the path that the metal flows when the coin is struck. The flowing metal will erode the surface of the die over time. The die can be removed from the coin press and polished to remove the flow lines from the surface. From the looks of your coin that reverse die was due to be polished. edit After looking at your photos again, it looks like that reverse die was nearing the end of its useful life and was getting close to needing to be replaced.
by discolorization, do you mean the clad layer itself has taken on a different color? i'm confident that the surface is copper, which i would assume is likely the core coming through as the result of some kind of pmd. with hobo's explanation of a worn die causing the flow lines, i'm assuming someone took a poorly minted coin and altered it. here's a picture of the edge.
Here's an interesting article on "missing clad layer"... it refers to state quarters, but applies to all clad quarters. http://coinresource.com/articles/state_quarter_missing_clad.htm
That's right. Copper-nickel will tarnish if dropped or buried in the ground. There are numerous other ways a clad coin can get environmental damage. I know of no way that could happen other than melting the coin. And I think the melting point of copper is lower than copper-nickel which means the copper core would flow out from between the copper-nickel layers before the copper-nickel layers melt. More likely the coin got tarnished either naturally or by accident rather than intentionally.
if you wipe a small area on it with a cloth I'm almost sure the copper looking toning will wipe right off. I have hundreds of new quarters that looks almost exactly like copper. the copper niclel clad coins will turn to a deep copper color when left out in the open. I think I can already see the nickel color showing thru in the leafs in one of the photos. compare the color of your coin side by side with a copper cent and if the color is not the same then your quarter is not copper.
i tried this test last night, and the color did not change. so i went a step further and rubbed a soft eraser lightly on the same area. the result was a cleaned copper look in the rubbed area. i don't want you to think i'm doubting your opinion, because i'm absolutely not doing that. it just appears to me that something was done to this coin to cause the coloration, and i haven't found an explanation that seems to fit the situation. is it simply not possible that a clad layer could be "burned" off completely by an acid treatment, and the copper underneath remain preserved? to add: i don't have the quarter on me at work today, so i'll have to wait until later this afternoon to post a picture of the coin post-rub-test.
I didn't mean any offense to your coin or you I just wanted to let you know how these coins can tone to a almost real copper color. It's possible you may have a rare coin here . I have never owned or seen one made from pure copper but about anything is possible with our coin mints. I would tell you to try a tiny bit of silver cleaner on it with a q tip , this would remove the discoloration if that is what it is but it would also damage your coin.
i would imagine that this coin has already suffered enough damage that, in the off chance it actually is something of a rare nature, it is too far gone to be of any additional value. i'm only trying to determine the possible causes of its current state, because i keep interesting pieces for their story, rather than their value. if one were to use a tarnish remover here, what kind of additional damage would that cause?
If I was you since you don't care much about this old coin I would just take a knife blade and scrape a tiny place on the top edge of it and if you see nickel color then you can know it is just toned,if you see copper color then you may have the coin of a life time. most likely thought it is probably a coin that has been covered in dirt and probably later on found with a metal detector. I have found them with my detector and they are usually black or copper looking. I hope my information can help you in the future. Troy W
when i get home this afternoon, i'll figure this thing out. i'm not ready to get out a scraper just yet, but i have a couple things i will try that shouldn't cause any more damage than what has already been done to the coin. will post new pics with the results.
i don't yet have a scale that will get precise enough to tell the difference. that's on my to-buy-with-my-tax-return list.
after some soaking and a *lot* of rubbing the coin, i can't really tell much of a difference in the color. it appears to perhaps be be fading slightly on some of the raised surfaces, but not enough to make any visible difference with my camera. will keep trying after another soak.
