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1942 Lincoln Cent: Error or Experimental Piece?
I just got the results back on a somewhat brassy-looking and overweight (but otherwise completely normal-looking) 1942 Lincoln Cent. Can anyone here tell me what I have? Is it struck on a foreign planchet? Is there any chance it's an experimental piece?
1942 1C 84% CU 11% ZN 5% SN 3.6 GRAMS
1942 1C 84% CU 11% ZN 5% SN 3.6 GRAMS
Andy Lustig
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
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<< <i>I just got the results back on a somewhat brassy-looking and overweight (but otherwise completely normal-looking) 1942 Lincoln Cent. Can anyone here tell me what I have? Is it struck on a foreign planchet? Is there any chance it's an experimental piece?
1942 1C 84% CU 11% ZN 5% SN 3.6 GRAMS >>
That's pretty sweet Andy. Did PCGS determine the composition or did you do it before submittal? Any pics of the coin?
NGC had the coin tested. Now it's being graded. No pics yet.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Does my piece match the weight and composition of any of those coins?
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
The US Mints did strike Brass coins for Nicaragua using surplus shell casings from the war between 1942-1945.
Cuba 1c 1943 Brass 2.3g
El Salvador 1c 1942 Bronze 15mm 2.5g
Guatemala 1c 1942 Brass 3.0g
Fiji 1c 1942S Brass 26mm with center hole
Suriname 1c 1943P Brass 18mm 2.5g
EDIT
Nicaragua 1c 1943 Brass no weight or diameter listed, i'll see if i have one to weigh
Love Errors and Varieties
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WTB an error forum!
Love Errors and Varieties
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WTB an error forum!
<< <i>Too much copper and tin for one of the US experimental cents - getting reid of those elements was the reason for the 1943 steel cent. >>
Good point.
TD
Couldn't a 10% reduction in copper at least have been considered?
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
New collectors, please educate yourself before spending money on coins; there are people who believe that using numismatic knowledge to rip the naïve is what this hobby is all about.
Minterrornews
Love Errors and Varieties
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WTB an error forum!
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
None made for them that year.
bob
<< <i>I just got the results back on a somewhat brassy-looking and overweight (but otherwise completely normal-looking) 1942 Lincoln Cent. Can anyone here tell me what I have? Is it struck on a foreign planchet? Is there any chance it's an experimental piece?
1942 1C 84% CU 11% ZN 5% SN 3.6 GRAMS >>
Just a WAG, but perhaps they were testing a brass plating technique, and simply plated over a normal cent planchet and then struck it. The resultant heavy planchet would not be a proposed replacement composition as such, but simply a test of how well a certain plating took an impression and/or adhered to a core.
Unrelated question: did anybody think to do a really good specific gravity of the piece while it was out of plastic?
TD
Normal cent on the left for comparison:
The standard alloy was changed during the first half of 1941 to 95% Cu and 5% Zn with a trace of tin. There appears to have been no standard except to add enough tin to show up in an assay. Each mint did what they could with the metals they had available.
As to 1942 experiments, the only thing involving copper that I have seen so far involved copper plating. Almost everything was on the table and experiments shifted as the WPB added more metals to the restricted list.
I have a "brass" one too it was tested by an X-Ray Fluorescence Analyzer.