My husband just found a 1964D penny today in a car. What caught his attention was how shiney it is. We thought it was silver but he checked and its magnetic. So it can't be silver. Can't be plated either because where the only one scratch is, deep too, there's no change in color of metals. Other than that one scratch, it is in excellent condition. Looks brand new as if just made.. We can't find anything on it. Can anyone help?
if its a silver color ...I would guess its coated with mercury .. I heard that a lot of people in 60's, 70's coated pennies with mercury to give them this looking your talking about. I know mercury is toxic and hazardous, but when I was in high school every got their turns to play with the stuff.. put it your hands and such..
When I was in grade school, late 50's, we would coat our silver coins with mercury. It made them look bright and shiny. The quarter I had that day for my lunch was a dateless Standing Liberty. I coated the quarter and at lunch time the cashier would not take my quarter because she thought it was fake. That day, I did without lunch. Never coated another coin after that.
