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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;satootoko, post: 60695, member: 669&quot;]I can sympathize with your desire to find a prince under the skin of that frog you picked up, but his Royal Highness just isn&#039;t hiding there.</p><p><br /></p><p>A 1976 U.S. cent is 19mm wide, weighs 3.11 grams, and was struck on a planchet consisting of a 95% copper alloy, with the other 5% being a mixture of tin and zinc.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>When it left the mint it was not plated with anything.&nbsp; In addition to the possibility that your coin has been plated in a high school science experiment, or otherwise, you have to also remember that copper is a very reactive metal.&nbsp; It can, and frequently does, take on a multitude of colors from contact with air pollution and/or other metals, acids, alkaline materials, etc., etc., etc.</p><p><br /></p><p>Occasionally the metals in the alloy will separate, causing even more unusual effects on the appearance of a piece of copper alloy.</p><p><br /></p><p>Copper plating a 1976 cent would simply add a negligible amount to its weight, without otherwise affecting its appearance.&nbsp; <i>There is no silver</i> to be &quot;worn down&quot; on a 1976 cent!</p><p><br /></p><p>To a merchant <i>or</i> a coin collector your piece is worth US$.01.&nbsp; (The collector would only be interested in it as legal tender, <i>not</i> as an addition to his/her collection.)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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