Plated Penny?

The first three pictures. Is the werid penny. I dont believe it is steel. It doesnt stick. Then the other 3 pictures. Is of the same penny year, to show difference. Thoughts? Probably worthless. But First time coming across. So its priceless

 

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Sorry! Wrong head pic for the 1986 penny. This is the correct one.

 

Welcome to Coin Talk. 1986 is probably plated. Usually done in Science class in School. 1939 is common date worth one cent.

 

1939 penny was an accident.

Specific questions are -
How/Can you find out? If it was a experiment?
What did they use?

I read somewhere it could be mercury? Should I not be touching it?

And yes. I already know it's worth 1 cent. But it's cool and priceless to me. I simply wish to learn more about it.

 

It's just a damaged coin. There is no way to know for sure what was done to the coin.

 

The copper layer was removed from the 1986 cent. What you see is the zinc core. You can lay a zinc core cent between a piece of leather, strike it with a hammer and the copper will fall away. Usually that makes the diameter of the cent slightly larger.

 

Don't swallow it.

 

I don't see any evidence of plating.
Just the normal copper plating of a zinc cent on the 1986.
Here is one of my plated pennies:

 

Thank you for your response. It is not zinc. I did the zinc test. If you look at the side pictures. What else could it be? It isnt steel nethier

 

Its plated. Look at the side pictures. You can see that.

 

It weighs. 2.60 grams

 

I know that's right around the zinc weight. But it isnt zinc

 

Also would it be possibly to get a side picture of the plated penny you have.

 

Your penny is zinc.
I could dig mine out and get a photo of the rim one day.
If you chop your penny in half, you'll see that it's zinc.

 

I bought a few rolls of war nickels and one of them was super shiny. I admired the heck out of that thing (new collector) and then asking some advice on here I learned it was probably coated with Mercury. I would follow @paddyman98 's advice. You're ok as long as you don't lick it or swallow it!

 

It is not

Thank you! I thought it was mercury as well. But I wasnt sure if that was a real thing.

 

Sorry, but you come here asking advice and then tell everyone they're wrong? Listen, during 1982 the mint started making cents out of zinc and plating them with copper. You can say it's not zinc but it is. It's had the plating removed. It is not coated with mercury.

 

I think that our fellow enthusiasts have offered a reasonable explanation but I always suggest that a collector pursue all questions to their certainty. If you feel that you have something, keep the fair challenge out there to the community. Given the weight being slightly higher than the typical 2.5 grams, it might suggest that rather than remove plating (the copper) the coin was plated. From what I see, this doesn't look like a plated coin outside of the small copper circumferential band on the outer rim (perhaps where the individual attached a wire). Many local coin shops can test for metal composition, so you could take it there to have a definitive answer.

 

Your cent is Zinc coated with a thin copper coating but it's been damaged.

 

https://www.sciencecompany.com/Turn-Copper-Pennies-Into-Silver-and-Gold-Pennies.aspx