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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Oldhoopster, post: 3050251, member: 84179&quot;]A couple things to consider before spending (wasting) $50+ to have your coin returned as “Altered”.</p><p><br /></p><p>IT CAN’T BE ZINC</p><ul> <li>You said your coin weighs 3 grams, which is what a regular cent would weigh on a scale with low resolution.&nbsp; (You should use a scale that weighs to 0.1 grams or 0.01 grams, but it doesn’t matter for this discussion). </li> <li>The density of zinc is approx. 20% less than copper, so if your coin was zinc, and weighed 3 grams, it would have to larger than a normal cent.&nbsp; If it’s the same size as a normal cent, then it would weigh approx. 2.5 grams (which, by the way, is what a current copper plated zinc cent weighs.&nbsp; Love it when science and math come together). @desertg pointed this out in an earlier thread</li> <li>In 1973, the mint was not using zinc planchets.&nbsp; Not for Domestic production and not for foreign contracts.&nbsp; (Knock your socks off looking through this list to see if you can find something that matches your size, weight and composition from the early 70’s <a href="https://minterrornews.com/foreign_coinage_production_figures.pdf" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://minterrornews.com/foreign_coinage_production_figures.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://minterrornews.com/foreign_coinage_production_figures.pdf</a> ).&nbsp; So, where did it come from?</li> <li>Also, as [USER=15199]@desertgem[/USER] pointed out from the link [USER=59677]@Burton Strauss III[/USER]&nbsp; posted, the Sigma Analytics machine is calibrated for specific gold and other precious metals.&nbsp; You can’t just pop another material and expect to get anything accurate.&nbsp; The machine doesn’t work that way. </li> </ul><p>So, the chemistry and math says it can’t be zinc, a number of knowledgeable numismatists on this site have opined that it is plated or reacted with Mercury, and we know that plating cents is a common HS chemistry experiment that has been used for years (Coin talk seems to get a question about plated cents at least weekly, since I’ve been on here). </p><p><br /></p><p>Save yourself some time and money.&nbsp; It will come back as altered.&nbsp; If you really feel like gambling, take your $50+ and buy lottery tickets or bet on the Cleveland Browns to win the Super Bowl next year.&nbsp; You’ll have a better chance of making some money. Or better yet, use it to buy a good bottle of bourbon.</p><p><br /></p><p>I hope this helps.&nbsp; Best of Luck.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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