Strange coin that should not exist

Hi everyone.
I have found a coin that puzzles me to no end. A google search only yeilded 1 reference and it didnt help much so I came here hoping to find info. The coin in question is a nickel made of copper. Not a nickel/copper alloy. COPPER. the date is hard to read but seems to be 2002. Any ideas?

This is not a joke as I am sure some will think. I thought about "tarnish" but it looks more like the copper of a wire that has seen alot of heat. Any thoughts on the subject would be welcome.

 

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Post a picture so we can help you with identification!

 

Could be a couple things. It is likely a coin that has been altered post mint. However, there are some cases where nickels can take on a copper color at the mint...an example of this is an improperly annealed planchet. It looks like this:

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However, we need clear pictures of your coin (both front and back) to know what it is

 

I will have to pick up an sd card for my camera so I can post pics but aside from dark blemish in the middle of mine and the quality isnt as fine, the coloring is about the same. I am no collector so forgive my ignorance but could you please explain "improperly annealed planchet". And if this is the case, would it be just another worthless coin?

 

Another possibility?
Somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind I think I remember copper-plating metal items by dropping them in a solution of copper sulfate.

 

But there are cases of nickels being struck on cent planchets and since he said the date was hard to read that might be a possibility sincepart of the date may be off the planchet.

Weight is going to be key here. If it weighs 2.5 to 3.1 grams then it is probably struck on a cent planchet. If it weights 4.85 to 5.15 grams then it is most likely just a plated or discolored nickel.

 

I vaguely recall high school chemistry classes where we plated coins to make them appear to be struck with other metal.

 

Picture would be nice.

How do you know it's copper, and not an alloy?

My first thought was nickel struck on a cent planchet. This would give the appearance of copper if you just examined the surface. As mentioned above, weight is the key to making this determination.

 

Well I am reasonably sure it isnt plated. As for the cent idea, size is the same as a nickel. Wouldnt it be the size of a penny?? I am almost home (I am an OTR truck driver) and will be able to take a picture of it to post in the morning. I am already much closer to an answer than when this began. As stated above I found one ref to a nickel made of copper on google and it made no sense. Here atleast, I have seen another like it and gotten a few interesting possiblities. I cant wait to lable this one solved.

 

It would be larger than a cent, but smaller than a nickel.

 

If it is the same size and weight as a nickel then it almost has to be a plated, discolored, or sintered nickel. There would be no place for a copper planchet that size to come from. The only true copper nickels I know of were a few pattern buffalo nickels back around 1911 to 1913. All real copper nickels since then have been nickels struck on cent blanks.

In theory the sintered nickel would be a mint error but since it is too easy to fake I wouldn't put any significant value on it.

 

<a href="http://s919.photobucket.com/albums/ad34/Tempest_photos/?action=view&current=coin2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/ad34/Tempest_photos/th_coin2.jpg" border="0" alt="coin3" ></a>

<a href="http://s919.photobucket.com/albums/ad34/Tempest_photos/?action=view&current=coin3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/ad34/Tempest_photos/th_coin3.jpg" border="0" alt="coin2" ></a>

<a href="http://s919.photobucket.com/albums/ad34/Tempest_photos/?action=view&current=coin1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/ad34/Tempest_photos/th_coin1.jpg" border="0" alt="coin1" ></a>

sorry about quality I am a truckdriver not a photographer lol any suggestions for better shots will be attempted. It is just a 5mp kodak easyshare



guess I linked it wrong but you can get there I did sorry

 

Okay after reading further (duh) I found mention of scanners and this works better lol and I think i got the photobucket thingy whipped too how can I safely clean this to get all that black off ?

 

That looks like damage from extreme heat to me, possibly from going through a fire. I am sure there are better experts then I to give you an accurate answer but that is my guess.

 

Heat was my first guess too, but can you burn the nickel off a coin?? I got a pen torch in the junk drawer lol I am gonna try on a new nickel :goofer:

 

Definitely post mint damage. Something traumatic happened to this coin.

 

I am pretty sure that nickels are solid nickel. Not made up of one layer of metal around another layer of a different metal like the other denominations are.

When metal gets hot, REALLY hot, they change colors, like the exhaust of a motorcycle turning blue. Check out this picture I took at the Goodguys East Coast Nationals car show back in June. You see the blue, purple and yellowish on the headers? That is from heat. If they were made of nickel they would likely have turned the same brown color of yours, and these too are not exposed to direct flames.

 

When I was a kid I could play galaga for hours for a quarter because of a bug in the program. Mom didnt mind because I was at the arcade and not out getting in trouble. She would would give me a quarter and say it was worth far more than 25 cent because it kept me occupied for so long. This nickel has proven to be just as valuable. I got out the torch and found that the heat would turn it into a nice shiny copper color but once removed it would go back to a silver grey. However, if you dump water on the red hot coin, it kept the copper tint. This nickel is going to be "slabbed" for two reasons. 1) it has kept me intrigued for weeks. 2) It has peaked my interest in coins again. I was a kid (three decades ago lol) the last time I looked through my change looking for some neat coin. In the last 2 weeks I have done it every time I walked away from the register. I would like to thank you all for being here to offer your assistance to myself and many others and look forward to "bugging" all of you as I try to rediscover the fun of coin collecting.

Thank you sooo much,
Joe

 

Actually, nickels are made of an alloy of 75% copper, 25% nickel. :eating: