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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Oldhoopster, post: 2929112, member: 84179&quot;]I would strongly suggest that you make sure &quot;the coin professional&quot; fully understands how to do a compositional analysis.&nbsp; There is a lot more to using a handheld XRF than reading numbers off a screen.&nbsp; Just because a guy has an analyzer doesn&#039;t mean he&#039;s an expert. Turns out that copper plating is pretty thin and the analytical method penetrates slightly below the surface.&nbsp; So, when your &quot;professional&quot; reads off the numbers, is he measuring the surface toning? Copper plating? Zinc core?&nbsp; Ask him.</p><p><br /></p><p>I would also strongly suggest that you look into the production process of copper plated zinc planchets to get an idea of the how errors could occur and the likelihood of an occurrence. I would also take the time to research &quot;Brass plated&quot; cents from the 1980&#039;s.&nbsp; I am among those who believe there were brass plated error cents made.&nbsp; It was a new process at the time and if you understand some basics on how an electroplating production process works, it&#039;s easy to see it happening.&nbsp; However, if you&#039;ve every worked on a manufacturing process, especially when it&#039;s new, you&#039;ll know that the engineers are ALWAYS working on better/faster/cheaper.&nbsp; The production problems that caused the brass plating have been fixed.&nbsp; Also, check out some electrochemistry to see what materials may form ions in the plating solution and be co-deposited with the copper during the plating process.&nbsp; That should narrow done your suspects as well.</p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, as you research the &quot;Brass cents&quot;, take special note of the analytical work done.&nbsp; It wasn&#039;t done by some guy who doesn&#039;t know the difference between XRF, XRD and EDS, but by research people.&nbsp; You&#039;ll find that short of destructive testing, there really isn&#039;t a good way (without spending BIG bucks) to determine the composition with confidence.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>So, with copper being a very reactive metal, which has a tendency to react with oxygen and numerous other organic and inorganic contaminants found in everyday life (I think I forgot to include heat, which also speeds up these reactions).&nbsp; I feel pretty confident that the colors on your cent are due to normal toning, even if they are much more vivid.</p><p><br /></p><p>Just some things to think about.&nbsp; Hope it helps.&nbsp; Let us know the compositional data when you get it analyzed[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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