A very unusual British 2 pence

SYRACUSIAN

I was going through some change that I brought back from a couple of recent trips to London and New York and I found something quite unusual in the British change. It was a 1997 2 pence,(KM 936a) whose colour was grey like copper nickel, instead of the usual red, red brown or brown copper plated steel. A mint error in my spare change? Frankly, I doubted that I could be so lucky. Upon closer inspection, the coin looked very worn, and most of all, it was heavily scratched. Apparently, someone else before me came across this piece, and my guess is that he tried to uncover the red copper layer that was supposedly lying underneath, but the coin doesn't have any red spot that would give away its true identity.








Evidently, my next step was to put it on a scale. Luckily ,my change contained a "genuine" two pence from 1996, so I compared the two coins. If it was a mint error piece, their weight should be different, since the diameter and thickness were the same. The weird looking two pence weighed 7.2 grams,exactly the same as the regular looking one.So, someone went through all this trouble to pass them as 10p coins? There are several differences that can easily be spotted, they have a different diameter, a different edge (the 10p is reeded, the 2p is plain) and most of all they have a different reverse design. Any thoughts?


Could it simply be a non copper plated steel piece that somehow left the Mint early? If so, are these common?

newbiecollector

At the risk of seeming stupid, could be one that somebody rubbed with Mercury?

Just a tought

Sapyx

Looks to me like an ordinary 2p that someone's tried to remove all the copper from, by some means physical or chemical. I think the scratches are the result of some final touching up, removing the last traces of copper.

What are the rims like, compared to the normal one?

satootoko

Does it stick to a magnet?

If so, I would agree with Sapyx.
If not, it may be an off-metal error. (I hope, I hope, I hope.)

SYRACUSIAN

What are the rims like, compared to the normal one?



Same, plain.

Sapyx, I hadn't thought of that, it's probably the most likely scenario. But why? Some people just have too much time to kill I guess...



Does it stick to a magnet?


I don't have one around at the moment, but I'll get back to you on this.

If so, I would agree with Sapyx.
If not, it may be an off-metal error. (I hope, I hope, I hope.)



Even if...., the coin is in such a terrible condition that it can't be worth that much more than a regular 2p.