Very Shiny 1956 Lincoln Penny?

Cent on dime planchet errors could conceivably occur any date. But this coin is plated.

 

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We plated pennies in high school chemistry and I still have mine. It is brass colored...I think whatever we did either coated or turned the outside skin into brass. I recall heating it in a crucible with some chemicals over a burner. We also took later pennies with the zinc core, filed a small hole through the copper plating at the edge and then used an acid bath to dissolve the zinc to make hollow pennies. Don't have that one any more as it was pretty fragile.

Rob

 

I think I have the very same coin. I've had it in my collection since I was a kid going to the bank and exchanging old rolls for new. My collection was at my Mom's house for 30 years. She recently passed so I found it and took it home.

I did a search here on"1956 Shinny Lincoln pennies." I found this coin I had completely forgotten about when going through my loose coins today. I knew there was something significant about it because it is not only shinny with a silver blue cast, but it shows absolutely no wear. The details are are sharp as the day it was minted. My first thought was that this must have been minted on the wrong metal. If it were coated, it would have shown some signs of wear.

The answer I found toi my question confirms my suspicion. Now, to find someone to appraise it. What luck!

 

Coating does not necessarily mean that you will see wear on the coin...you are essentially putting a new layer of metal on top, and if that didn't circulate, then the coin would look uncirculated. Maybe post some pics here so we can take a look and let you know if you have the real deal.

 

Yes - upon further examination, I believe the coin is coated. It looked like it was minted from a silver proof planchette. However, after I had handled it yesterday, I could see that the coloring was becoming less uniform and some copper was starting to show through. The fact that it had a bluish tint to it also would seem to indicate that this coin had been coated. I am 60 years old. I took that coin out of circulation when I was 12. So it should have ten years of wear. It doesn't, most likely, due to the coating that was applied. Someone here mentioned Mercury as a possible coating agent. This could be it. I'm not sure what was used, but I'm now certain it wasn't the stroke of luck I thought it was!

 

I have this one and as you can see they do happen at any date

 

I have taken some photos and will try to send them along. It is a strange coin.

It has silver and bluish highlights, but certainly copper showing. It also entered my mind that it could be mixed metal somehow or coated at the mint in some way.

So these things ever occur? Does anyone know?

 

Although it can occur naturally or artificially, environmental chemicals in the air can cause a very thin layer of chemical deposit on the surface of the coin. If the surface is proof or proof-like in condition ( very reflective), the layer may appear to be a colored layer and depending on thickness may appear golden, silver ( actually very faint blue) or light blue. This is a type of toning. the mint does nothing to cause this effect, except to use fresh polished dies. Not usually a big price factor.