Hello! I found this 1996 D penny a while back, and I grabbed it because it's this gold color, though I'm not sure why. A quick search tells me it's because the penny's zinc coating got heated, and mixed with the copper of the penny creating "yellow brass," though I'm curious if this is the case or not. (sorry for the sideways pictures, I can't get them the right way to save my life and I have work in 20 minutes so I can't spend that much more time on it).
It is a zinc cent clad in copper. Anything number of things could explain why the tone is irregular. Its not worth more then a cent.
I figured it wasn't worth anything, just thought it looked cool, and wanted to know why it looked the way it did.
PhotoScape is a free download you can use to edit your images. In this case, @Amos 811 has used it to rotate your images. http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php Chris
Either it's "natural" toning. Or, I think the coin was gold plated at one point and some has worn off. Can't tell from the photos.
@TinkerTanker44432 you have the facts inverted the core is zinc and the plating is copper. But otherwise heating the coin hot enough to form a brass alloy it's theoretically possible. Just has to get a lot hotter than you think. Another possibility is zinc poisoning of the plating bath. The ion exchange that creates the copper plating can also leave some zinc ions in the copper solution. If it's not changed out soon enough then the plating becomes brass instead of pure copper. The third possibility is a science experiment where somebody plated the coin, possibly with a few atoms thick of gold and stopped before it really got a bright gold color. Am XRF gun would give you data, but it would only give you information to satisfy the intellectual curiosity.
Hey I have a gold 1996 penny double die you can see in the date really good. mint mark d it's very good condition I need someone to check it out for me