I found this cent while I was coin roll hunting, and when I dropped it in my copper cent bucket I could tell right away it wasn't copper. It weighs only 2.64 grams... about the weight of a zinc penny. I'm not sure what the heck this could be other than a fake. any suggestions?
Not sure why anyone would fake a 79D LMC as Denver struck 4,139,357,254 cents that year. It does look damaged, and there's a fingerprint covering the obverse.
theres no way half a gram of it is missing, it has the same thickness as any ordinary penny, not to mention it doesn't sound like copper when I drop it on a hard surface.
But as I said, it doesn't seem likely someone would go to the trouble to counterfeit a 79D cent. An 1909S VDB I could see that as there were less than half a million of those struck at San Francisco, and those are sought after by collectors. If the damage was done by acid, that could account for the loss of .47 grams.
is it possible that a planchet meant for some other destination may have been mixed in with a supply of cent planchets brought in to the Mint from an outside source?
I agree with Mike. There doesn't appear to be any acid damage and it looks as though the strike is weak in the 10:30 reverse area from being struck on a rolled thin planchet.
