1936 Great Britain Penny Error? Help

PROMETHIUS88

So going thru the GB portion of this collection, I ran across this coin. My first thought was that it was just probably plated. But after looking at it carefully thru the loupe, I can't see any signs of plating. There are some scratches and nicks but no copper comes thru. Is it possible that an incorrect planchet was struck and then minted with the penny die? Due to my lack of knowledge with world coinage, I'm not sure if that may be common.
While there is nothing noted on the 2x2, the $5 price tag, which was more than $30 years ago signals something more than common as most of the other pennies from the era are pricedat .50-$1.
Thanks in advance!

Greenstang

Could you remove it from the holder and give us a weight to two decimal points.

Sapyx

Plating is a far more likely explanation than a wrong planchet. It was relatively common for people to plate a penny, and try to pass it as a florin, since they're about the same size, and had a very similar obverse design. It was (and still is), of course, illegal to plate a bronze coin to make it look silvery, for this very reason.

As for the nicks and dints being silvery inside, well, if the plating happened after the nicks and dints were put there, then it would be expected that the plating would also appear inside the scratches.

As noted above, the weight will tell you. A plated penny would weigh not much different to a normal penny: 9.45 grams. If it were a wrong planchet mint error, struck on a silver florin planchet, then it would weigh 11.3 grams.

It's also possible it's a "foreign planchet" mint error; for example, up until 1928, the Royal Mint struck cupronickel pennies for use in Jamaica; these would weigh 9.2 grams. But I think it extremely unlikely that a Jamaican penny blank would have been sitting around the Mint somewhere for eight years before being picked up and accidentally used to make a British penny.

The information on the 2x2 by the previous seller is not a reliable indicator; the fact that the seller at the time didn't note the "wrong colour" in any way, indicates the seller was unfamiliar with the British coin series.

PROMETHIUS88

I don't have a scale that weighs more accurately than to the gram. This one weighs in at 9 grams.
Yeah, I don't take much stock in the pricing. I haven't figured out if the local dealer that he bought these coins from years ago put the prices on them or if my wife's grandfather put the price he paid on them after he put them in 2x2's

TomB

If your scale is accurate to the gram and it is telling you 9g then we can be pretty darn certain it is plated.

7Jaguars

I actually have a nickel 1936 penny and it weighs by recall about 11.3 gm but was "X" marked by someone as a test long ago! Dam-.....It is hard to tell from the picture but does have some of the plated look to it & the weight of 9+/- very close to the 9.4 gm standard for the penny.

I would still get a confirmed and accurate weight but sadly agree with it as plated.

PROMETHIUS88

Thank you all for your insight! With the volume of foreign in this collection, I know it won't be my last call for help.

Greenstang

Suggest if you are going to post more foreign coins that you get a scale that is
accurate to two decimal points.
In some cases accurate weight can be very important.

7Jaguars

Yes I bought an old style "Ohaus" (sp?) balance scale for like $5 and it goes to .01 gms. It is very accurate and I like the old-fashioned aspect of it.

PROMETHIUS88

@Greenstang said:
Suggest if you are going to post more foreign coins that you get a scale that is
accurate to two decimal points.
In some cases accurate weight can be very important.

Yeah, it's probably a good idea. Never really thought I would need a scale that small but here were are!