off-metal penny?

kellymac

Found this my son's piggy bank! Unfortunately it's quite ugly, but it appears to be made from some kind of bronze over copper. Did the US have any coins of that composition in 1990? At first I thought it was an ordinary coin somehow altered for fun, but then I noticed the "o"s (front and back), most prominent by Lincoln's eye and in his hair (note extra curls on forelock), also by bottom of shoulder which might match the most noticeable one on the reverse. I've searched a lot of websites and haven't found anything like it--any thoughts?

thank you,
Kelly

edited: no, really, it is GOLD colored, with copper showing where the top layer is worn

Shamika

The "o" appears to just be a blister. Starting in 1982, the U.S. mint changed the composition of Lincoln cents to copper plated zinc coins. Take a cent dated after 1982 and scratch it with a knife. You'll find zinc just under the surface.

It is not uncommon to see the zinc corroding under the copper plating resulting in copper little blisters.

You're cent does not appear to be worth anything.

airplanenut

<< <i>You're cent does not appear to be worth anything. >>

...it's worth a cent

Deadhorse

A penny saved is a penny earned.

Of course today, a more modern version would be; "a penny shaved is a zinc penny".

Shamika

<< <i><< You're cent does not appear to be worth anything. >>

...it's worth a cent >>



I asked for that one.

carl

I've been pulling odd LIncoln cents out of change for years now and noticed many of the late 80's and early 90's have all kinds of problems. Some have double rims, missing letters, weak lettering, lumps, bumps and everything else. I was going to ask a simillar question where I've got an 82 with 2 pimples on the upper lip, other dates with a mole on the cheek next to the lip, and some with no complextion problems. I was going to add the pictures but never could figure out how to do it yet.

kellymac

<< <i> I was going to add the pictures but never could figure out how to do it yet. >>




This thread should help

(just don't delete pictures you've already attached--makes 'em disappear from the original post!)

pharmer

Welcome to forum, you are at probably the best site for answers, once quite a few of the experts see this. I would recommend getting closer in to the interesting bits rather than the whole coin on another post, but leave the originals up, they do show the color and give a general idea. Shamika's suggestion about the plating is likely to be the answer. Make sure you use your macro mode for the close-ups.

kellymac

Thanks for all the feedback--here is a closeup of the forehead.

There are a lot of what may be damage marks, but the one of two raised areas in the forehead look like script and the "o"s seem too precise to be bubbles from plating. Also, I just noticed from doing the scan that there is another border inside the edge, just at the top of the letters. It doesn't go all the way around, but it almost looks like another stamped coin was used as a blank! (possible?)

Cheers!
Kelly

lordmarcovan

Definitely not an off-metal strike, but it does look like it has the remnants of some gold (or brass?) plating.

lordmarcovan

... and it's valuable, because it apparently brought you here!



This is a good place to hang around.

pharmer

LordM, you always have something pleasant to say, and I second it. My immediate thought when I just saw your close-up was that someone pushed down on the plating bubbles, like trying to pop them, and it created the o effect. Maybe?

Jdurg

That penny looks like one that I had made back in my high school chemistry days. In a lab, we took a penny and bathed it in a bath of concentrated sodium hydroxide and zinc powder. This caustic concoction was then heated for a while until the entire surface of the penny had the zinc coating to it. (So at this point the penny looked like a new steel penny). The penny was then placed into the heat of a bunsen burner flame and the zinc melted with the copper to form the brass which made the penny look golden in color. (Though with some rubbing you could remove the brass and have the copper show back through). It appears to me as if that penny was made in a similar fashion.

kellymac

Thanks, jdurg, for answering the question I couldn't shake--which is "WHY in the world would anybody do this?" (And now I know how to make brass, to boot!)

And yes, lordmarcovan, that and a few other twists of fate have gotten me really excited about coins--how have I missed it all these years? I looked at your ebay page and was reminded of the time I DIDN'T buy the "something something reales" piece from a Mel Fisher sale--back when they still had the real things for sale. Oh well, got a nice old emerald.

Kelly