I don't know if this should go in the error coins forum but I am really not sure how this penny got toned this way. Can anyone give me some insight? Obverse: Reverse:
sorry chris. it won't show up that well in the pictures but it has some very odd toning. the fields are all bright orange and towards the devices it turns blue/purple. very pretty.
Copper is a very reactive metal and there are lots of things in the environment that can cause it to change colors. As a general rule, funky colors on modern cents are due to some sort of chemical or heat exposure after it left the mint. There are brass plated cents (when the coated zinc planchet dissolves into the copper plating solution) that have a diff color, but short of doing an XRD, XRF, or SEM/EDS analysis, you can never be certain.
