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Message:: [QUOTE="HandsomeToad, post: 354134, member: 12965"]But is J.T. Stanton or Ken Potter a metallurgist? You can take a penny and make it purple and say it came from Venus and taking into consideration electrolysis is at work in our pennies now (copper plated zinc), who's to say it isn't a natural occurrence? Ryan just posted a funny looking penny for discussion. Does it qualify to get someone to give him more than a penny for it? Nope! Did you actually read the letter from the Department of the Treasury?  JUNE 27, 1985 Dear Mr. Potter: This is in response to your letter dated June 17, 1985 in which you enclosed three 1985 Denver one cent coins. The difference in color is due to the amount of zinc in the copper plate. In a proper plated cent there would be no zinc in the outer layer. However it is NOT a rarity to find zinc present. In the plating process it is NOT uncommon for several zinc blanks to be retained in the plating tanks. After a period of time the blanks begin dissolving and contaminate the plating solution. Thus a brass plate rather than a copper plate is formed on the subsequent blanks to be plated. It is possible to(o) The coloration in this case is due to the INFUSION of zinc into the copper layer. However, since laboratory tests have shown a sharp boundary between layers this explanation has been disregarded. Your coins are being returned to you with this letter.  Now, I must ask – WHAT EXACTY ARE PENNIES MADE OF? ANSWER: If a Lincoln Memorial penny has a date before 1982, it is made of 95% copper. If the date is 1983 or later, it is made of 97.5% zinc, with a thin copper coating, or "clad." For pennies minted in 1982, when both copper and zinc cents were made, the safest and best way to tell their composition is to weigh them. Copper pennies weigh 3.11 grams, whereas the zinc pennies weigh only 2.5 grams. So, now I must ask - WHAT IS BRASS? ANSWER: Brass is a buttery yellow alloy of zinc and copper which has been manufactured for thousands of years all over the world. The uses of brass vary depending on the percentages of zinc and copper, and which other metals have been added to alloy to bring out specific properties, but they include cartridge cases for weapons, pipes, weather stripping, decorative accents on homes, musical instruments, and household ornaments. The color of the alloy will also vary, depending on the amount of zinc: brass gets lighter in color with additional zinc, and can reach a pale yellow stage. Basic brass has approximately 67% copper and 33% zinc, making it stronger and more durable than copper, although not as strong as metals like steel. Alloys with even less zinc start to turn reddish in color, and are sometimes called red brass. Other metals are sometimes added to the alloy include lead to make brass more workable by machine, tin, arsenic, and antimony to resist corrosion, and iron to make the brass harder and easier to forge.  So, now we know that our pennies are made of 97.5% zinc, with a thin copper coating (aka: 2.5% copper) and we know that brass is a copper-zinc alloy. Therefore, what makes these pennies special? The letter said it – “The difference in color is due to the amount of zinc in the copper plate (aka: zinc in the copper). In a proper plated cent there would be no zinc in the outer layer. However it is NOT a rarity to find zinc present.” But then, what does the advertisement say: We were first to offer the 1985-D "Brass-Plated Cents" after having them confirmed by the U.S. Mint Assay Department as being inadvertently struck on "yellowish" brass-plated planchets (rather than on the normal "red" copper-plated blanks).  That’s a bold face LIE! They used the word “inadvertently” when the Mint acknowledge it is not rare, therefore it isn’t inadvertent but rather, conveniently/feasibly intentional. So the Department of the Treasury apparently knows this isn’t rare but someone who’s not credible (isn't a metallurgist) says otherwise and they even get someone who knows coins to say they are brass coated. I didn’t see Mr. Stanton say anything about rarity? I didn’t see him say anything about the quality of brass? I busted Mr. Potter because anyone who sells a penny that’s worth a penny, for more than a penny, is running a scam. I’ll believe the scientists and commonly KNOWN facts, over someone making a buck from a penny! Plus, after more than twenty years, they’re now offering more dates & mints than ever before. What does that say about what the mint told them more than twenty years ago - it is NOT rare for this to occur - and thus, I stand by what I said earlier! Mr. Potter would be better off staying at Hogwarts, instead of selling dressed up pennies as something they’re not. Pennies are now made from copper and zinc and brass is nothing more than a copper- zinc alloy and in the process of copper coating the zinc planchets, zinc gets in the copper and copper gets in the zinc (aka: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercials) and makes it look like brass. Nothing special about that, except someone is trying to make a buck off people’s ignorance of metals: thus, he is taking advantage of them; thus, he is running a scam; thus, he is a CON-MAN! Ribbit,Toad :smile[/QUOTE]

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