i was looking thru pennies today and i found a 1985 penny with a strange color. it's color was almost like the steel cents of 1943. i might guess that the copper coating had been taken off somehow. although i dont see too much in the way of abrasion marks. either that or it had been dipped in something which created some kind of chemical reaction. i have seen electroplated coins and i would not say this was one of those although i would not totally rule that out. anybody out there seen any pennies like that?
my dad had a couple pennies from the 50's which had been electroplated with silver. but one could tell that there was an "overcoat" of another metal, as the details were very dull. in my coin the details are quite sharp and there is definately no overcoat. i am wondering if the thin copper layer of mine was taken off somehow. in 1969 the pennies were still mostly copper, so i am not sure about yours. is steel gray the normal color of zinc?
If the coin is from the after 1982 there is a change that it is a cent that just missed getting it's copper shell. So all that you are seeing is just the center of the coin. Generally these have little value, but it is an error coin. A coin store should give you a better answer.
It has become a lot of fun for some in chem classes to remove the copper coating by several methods. One is acid baths. Another is electroplating where the system is done in reverse. Occationally there are those that plate the coins with Silver, Zinc, Crome, etc. Worse is the ones covered with Mercury.
strange find - looks like a "steelie"
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Posted - 06/23/2007 : 14:52:57
Posted - 06/23/2007 : 15:10:32
