Here is an attic find that has me baffled. This 1953 D Lincoln appears to be Aluminum or silver. It absolutely is not plated. The "third side" has a tiny ding and you can tell it is the same material through-out. I have heard about plateing,,,, have heard about aluminum prototypes,,,,,and have heard about struck on wrong planchets..(What I'm leaning toward) But,,, have taken some vitals and am hopeing some one can help. Some of you guys are extremely knowledgeable and I appreciate all the readings thus far but now its time to help me out. LOL. This coin is very thin and really resembles a dime size. I weighed a 1949 and it weighed 3.0498 grams and measured 19 mm. This penny wieghs 2.5570 grams and measures 17.9 mm. Any ideas,,,,and whats my next step. Any help is greatly appreciated. If this picture is to small. E-mail me at bigdcoins@hotmail.com and I will reply with bigger picture.
Hi, Hard to say for sure, but it does seem to fall into the specs for being struck on a U.S. Dime planchet. 17.9 mm and 2.50 gms. Tough to say without seeing it or doing a specific gravity test to try to determine the content of the metal. Have Fun, Bill
The specs on a 1953 dime are - weight:2.50grams Diam: 17.9mm. Specs on a 1953 penny are: Weight:3.11grams Diam: 19mm. It sounds like you might a penny that was minted on a dime planchet. Hopefully someone else will chime in who knowsmore then I about this... Cool find either way....
Where do you get it slabbed. I submit to NGC but I do not believe they will touch this kind of thing. Is there a person or place that can do the specific gravity test or tell authenticity kind of like this " highly recommended site," www.varslab.com. This guy John attributes vams and slabs them so if ya'll have a Morgan or Peace dollar that seems peculiar,,,send it in and he will find the correct # and rarity factor. I have used him myself. Anyways,,,,more input on the lincoln if someone else can help or maybe someone knows where I can send it.
The legend does appear to be too close to the edge. Have you compared the size of the design elements to a geninue cent? Try accurately measuring the distance from the left edge of the "L" in Liberty to the right edge of the "3" in the date, which appear to be the design elements furthest removed from each other. It the measurement for your piece and a known cent match, that would be further evidence of an off-metal strike. You might also want to check with Chuck Daugherty, whose >> website << is a major resource for cent collectors.
Wow!..BigD..I'm certain that this is indeed a real cent struck on a dime planchet.No doubt it will come back graded as such.It does look like it was cleaned though..hehe
I know John of varslab.com, a very knowledgeable collector and an expert on Morgans. But this is out of his area really. I'm pretty sure that NGC will authenticate and slab items like this - a phone call will confirm or deny it easily enough. If it's no - ANACS certainly will.
It is definitely an authentic off-metal error. Although there's some wear on the cheek, I'd venture it's worth close to $1000. As others have said, all indications are that it was struck on a silver dime planchet.
Wow! Who's attic did you find that in? Gut feeling is to go with ANACS on this one. To the more knowledgeable: Would PCGS authenticate and slab a coin like this?
I was actually at a coin shop and this couple came in to sell coins that their grandfarther gave them. They were told they could have anything found in the attick for the cleaning. The coin shop guy bought a gold eagle set from them for $860.00 and he did not want to touch the jar of lincolns. He went through some and said they were all junk someone had thrown together. Some were bent ,,crushed,, a 1909 vdb that was silver dipped bought I also found a 1949 double date that I would be glad to post a pix if anyone is interested. I never seen a 49 with a double date. Anyways,, I saw the guy down the street later on and asked what he wanted for the jar. he said they were not worth anything but sold to me for $5.00. Coins to me are like reading material so these were absolutely worth $5.00 just to investigate. Anyways guys ..,,, has a novelty item crossed anyones mind. Did they make any look-a-like lincolns way back then??? this is starting to sound to good to be true so there has got to be something we are missing. thank ya'll for the input thus far but many more 2 cents would be appreciated. lol.
Hi, You are not missing a thing It is probably a genuine off-metal error and you got lucky finding it in a $5.00 batch of stuff . It happens once in a while Have Fun, Bill
That coin is really just junk, want to sell it? Just kidding, that coin is very pricey and I would send it in to one of the tpg's if I were you. Tom
It definitely matches everything that can be told from a picture and the other information given for a cent struck on dime planchet. (I'm 99%+ convinced it is what it appears to be.) NGC would probably slab this coin, and PCGS would under the mint error service level (As long as it hasn't been cleaned or has some other problem.) ANACS would definitely slab it. I'm a little surprised at the value placed on it by Mikediamond. I didn't think it would be quite that high. But he knows more about errors and their market than I do so I will bow to his judgement.
