This wheat cent has blue streaks on the obverse, and blue on the reverse also. Would this be called a lammination error? If not , what would you call it? Any info. appreciated.
I say list it on Ebay as "Rare Tiger Stripped Wheat Cent". Outside of that I think it's an alloy issue. Michael
Its a type of tonning that happens in the same deretion as to roller marks. Its the zonc alloy reacting to age. I do not beleive that its from cleaning. I could be wrong.
coinic: I believe that the original cause of the streaking was due to improper mix of the alloys in the preparation of the metal prior to the creation of the strips for the coin blanks. The blue color is unusual but seems to be in line with the direction of the 'normal' streaks that are found with improper alloy mix. I don't see evidence of cleaning, but it may be there, however, cleaning normally wouldn't turn the coin blue, especially in stripes. I assume that this is only on the obverse, since you did not show the reverse, then that would be very unusual. Please show a photo of the reverse. The Other Frank
Look at the link below, it shows a normal streak planchet. http://www.cointalk.org/showthread.php?t=19516
I think this is an accurate description of what it looks like to me. I have a couple old wheaties with very similar streaking, though it is very light brown rather than blue.
A similar toning can occur if you wash the coin under hot water with hand soap! However, in most cases, the toning is more uniform and not streaked like it is on your coin. I believe that Frank's (Treashunt's) assessment is correct! The Other, Other Frank
