I wonder if the official copper-plated steel test strikes were also plated with zinc first ?
If not, then the genuine article would not have any zinc content (unless the "copper" plating was actually bronze).
I will have mine XRF tested, hopefully this weekend.
Normal weight for Steel Cents is
2.689 grams, and some weigh
2.754 grams.
The OP's coin is well within the 2.689
gram tolerance, even with the plating.
In my opinion, based on the
weight of the coin, the photo, etc.
it's a copper-plated normal Steel
Cent thats toned since the plating.
I've handled a few of the experimental
planchets mentioned (Heritage Auction)
and this coin is not close at all.
It's not any type of experimental planchet
or coating, imo.
Fred
Retired Collector & Dealer in Major Mint Error Coins & Currency since the 1960's.Co-Author of Whitman's "100 Greatest U.S. Mint Error Coins", and the Error Coin Encyclopedia, Vols., III & IV. Retired Authenticator for Major Mint Errors for PCGS. A 49+-Year PNG Member...A full numismatist since 1972, retired in 2022
Additionally, who is to say the mint plated the planchets prior to striking or afterwards if they were experimenting?
Think about this for a moment. If the mint plated the planchets after striking, how would anyone be able to tell if it was plated in 1943 or plated in 2017? It would be exactly the same process using exactly the same materials resulting in exactly the same finished product.
It being plated before or after wouldn't prove it to be legit since many CF'ers, here and abroad, can strike a penny and you can even buy plated planchets on ebay.
If the question is can people spend the time and effort required to strike-counterfeit a 1943 penny that would be undetectable, I guess the answer is that we'll never know.
"...reality has a well-known liberal bias." -- Stephen Colbert
We even plated steel cents with copper in high school chemistry class..... was a common experiment and required at that time....after the required part, we plated several of our own steel cents....I have no idea what happened to mine... lost in life's many hills and valley's.....and the process is indeed simple. Cheers, RickO
@CoinsAndMoreCoins....What you say is absolutely true.... When I said the process was simple, I was not indicating the complex process employed by the mint, or the obviously superior results. Cheers, RickO
Daniel, Your '43 looks counterfeit to me,
from the surfaces, rim area, etc.
Retired Collector & Dealer in Major Mint Error Coins & Currency since the 1960's.Co-Author of Whitman's "100 Greatest U.S. Mint Error Coins", and the Error Coin Encyclopedia, Vols., III & IV. Retired Authenticator for Major Mint Errors for PCGS. A 49+-Year PNG Member...A full numismatist since 1972, retired in 2022
@FredWeinberg said:
Daniel, Your '43 looks counterfeit to me,
from the surfaces, rim area, etc.
I examined the coin under my microscope. I am extremely confident that the coin is an authentic 1943 steel cent. But the question is whether the copper coating was done by the US Mint or added by someone else after the fact. I believe the latter, but I will do a little more investigation.
@dcarr said:
I have had this coin sitting in my "junk drawer" for a few years.
But now I think maybe I should at least investigate the possibility that it is one of the original copper-plated steel test strikes.
It appears to be much more authentic-looking than any other copper-plated steel cents that I have seen.
Note that it does stick to a magnet (that was the first thing I tested when I came across it years ago !).
I obtained an XRF test for the coin above.
The x-rays typically penetrate through the plating to the substrate below.
The readings were:
53.5% Iron
0.2% Manganese
46.3% copper.
What is interesting is that there was no trace of zinc. The X-rays certainly penetrated the copper plating to show the iron/manganese (steel) core. Had there been any zinc plating on the coin, that would show up, even if covered by copper. So this particular coin has no zinc in it. That would make sense for a copper plated steel test strike. With such an arrangement, there would be no added benefit by plating the steel with zinc and then copper. A copper plating alone would provide the same results without the added complication of the zinc plating step.
Dumb question - does the process of putting copper on involve heat? If so, zinc has a pretty low melting temp, could the zinc have "fallen off" (for lack of a better term) during the copper process? Melting point of zinc is in the 700's whereas copper is in the 1900's.
In making fake 1943 copper pennies, the zinc and the ugly black zinc oxides are removed with muriatic acid (HCl) or even vinegar and a wire brushing before the steel is electroplated with copper.
Frank Provasek - PCGS Authorized Dealer, Life Member ANA, Member TNA. www.frankcoins.com
@ricko said:
We even plated steel cents with copper in high school chemistry class..... was a common experiment and required at that time....after the required part, we plated several of our own steel cents....I have no idea what happened to mine... lost in life's many hills and valley's.....and the process is indeed simple. Cheers, RickO
The process used to plate pennies today and avoid thick deposits on sharper edges is not simple. If you believe this, see if the US Mint will disclose their exact process used in the plating pennies that miraculously withstand stamping without the cutting edge surface geometries of the dies ever breaking the relatively brittle plated surfaces. It is easy enough to sound the surfaces with fine test equipment to differentiate between a real US penny and a high school plated penny if your eyes refuse to see.
Look carefully, under say 30 power stereo magnification of a new MS penny and a freshly plated high school penny. You'll see the huge differences if you're objective.
The zinc-copper pennies are not plated, but coated with thick enough copper that, when they came out in 1982, I placed a few on a range burner and they would puff up like jiffy pop popcorn and the zinc core would shatter and rattle in pieces.
Frank Provasek - PCGS Authorized Dealer, Life Member ANA, Member TNA. www.frankcoins.com
@Frankcoins....Correct.... magnification will clearly show the difference between a high school plate job and a mint coin.... never tried the pop-a-coin trick.... Cheers, RickO
I should clarify that the XRF is reading the plating and the substrate to a depth of about 30 microns (.0012 inches). The 46.3% copper reading indicates that the copper plating is roughly .0006 inches thick. In other words, the XRF shows the average elemental content of the first .0012 inches into the item.
@Frankcoins said:
In making fake 1943 copper pennies, the zinc and the ugly black zinc oxides are removed with muriatic acid (HCl) or even vinegar and a wire brushing before the steel is electroplated with copper.
Yes, quite a few 1943 steel cents have been copper plated after the fact.
Removing the zinc prior to the plating would result in a matte acid-etched appearance of the steel. Copper plating alone would not significantly change that texture. However, wire-brushing/burnishing/polishing the coin after the zinc was removed and prior to the copper plating would make it much less matte. But then it would have the look of a shiny "reprocessed" cent, similar to the OP coin.
@TequilaDave said:
Wait...if the elemental analysis was correct, shouldn't it have detected tin?
If the plating was bronze then yes. But if relatively pure copper was used for plating, there would be no tin.
Correct. Has there ever been a time in which the mint used pure copper rather than a tin alloy? I can't imagine they ever did, copper is simply too soft.
@Frankcoins said:
Copper plating steel 1943 cents was a cottage industry. Worthless especially after the OP having his greasy fingers all over it.
Yeah, greasy fingers, thanks for the very informative post. I was eating a triple baconator from Wendy's also while handling it, without wiping my hands.
Please refrain from unnecessary and blatantly rude comments, thanks, and have a nice day.
@Frankcoins said:
Copper plating steel 1943 cents was a cottage industry. Worthless especially after the OP having his greasy fingers all over it.
Note in the ad how they stated only unspotted fine to UNC coins were suitable, and that higher-grade coins produce better results. It doesn't seem like this particular outfit cleaned the coins prior to plating (so coins done by them would likely still have some zinc content).
i will give positive feed on this one ,,,because i have 30 experimental cents ,,,,and i have been told reprocessed or plated . i found em in the ground cause there corroded(as my research went on i discovered other coins of this look to be cast silver,,,yes a 1943 cent of cast silver 2 of them i have weigh 2.4 g..they had this redlike clay on them ,,so as told they were rusty fakes from the ground i decided cant hurt somthing thats junk so i washed it in warm water and wow that ( rust) washed rite off and a shiny silver cent appeared looks to have sinnocks initials it. as do at least 15 of the 30 i have,,,also i noticed the S on the cent in the pic i found this on several of mine above the date or in the hair. die cracks from liberty to god on obverse and trust to date on obverse ,,,i have a several with same cracks and ull find the same on 1942 judd . as far as proving they are from the mint look very close on the outer rim a few of mine say " Philadelphia mint experimental test planchette no denomination "and on reverse between wheat ears u might find a single letter wih a 4 to six number etched there ,im not giving example as it would bring upset.. most of mine weigh 2.6,,,,,some 2.9 ...and a few of them i could bent or shape to a square wi just my fingers very strange coins... a black light and a camera will also give you results,,my results after this had glowing blue specs on a few,,,(uranium?) those are going for meta testing this week ,as u also should before sending it to any grading service ,,,very few have any thing like we have dont let negativity get you down ,,,i found alot of mrkings numbers,initials ,die cracks,,,ive researched and compare thes coins to the ciculated ones and found out alot ,,,,,,yours i believe is from the mint,,,
as i believe mine also ,,,,,
@Jerryclark said:
i will give positive feed on this one ,,,because i have 30 experimental cents ,,,,and i have been told reprocessed or plated . i found em in the ground cause there corroded(as my research went on i discovered other coins of this look to be cast silver,,,yes a 1943 cent of cast silver 2 of them i have weigh 2.4 g..they had this redlike clay on them ,,so as told they were rusty fakes from the ground i decided cant hurt somthing thats junk so i washed it in warm water and wow that ( rust) washed rite off and a shiny silver cent appeared looks to have sinnocks initials it. as do at least 15 of the 30 i have,,,also i noticed the S on the cent in the pic i found this on several of mine above the date or in the hair. die cracks from liberty to god on obverse and trust to date on obverse ,,,i have a several with same cracks and ull find the same on 1942 judd . as far as proving they are from the mint look very close on the outer rim a few of mine say " Philadelphia mint experimental test planchette no denomination "and on reverse between wheat ears u might find a single letter wih a 4 to six number etched there ,im not giving example as it would bring upset.. most of mine weigh 2.6,,,,,some 2.9 ...and a few of them i could bent or shape to a square wi just my fingers very strange coins... a black light and a camera will also give you results,,my results after this had glowing blue specs on a few,,,(uranium?) those are going for meta testing this week ,as u also should before sending it to any grading service ,,,very few have any thing like we have dont let negativity get you down ,,,i found alot of mrkings numbers,initials ,die cracks,,,ive researched and compare thes coins to the ciculated ones and found out alot ,,,,,,yours i believe is from the mint,,,
as i believe mine also ,,,,,
Welcome to Collectors Universe. You will certainly add a lot of info for us to think about.
@ricko said:
We even plated steel cents with copper in high school chemistry class..... was a common experiment and required at that time....after the required part, we plated several of our own steel cents....I have no idea what happened to mine... lost in life's many hills and valley's.....and the process is indeed simple. Cheers, RickO
The process used to plate pennies today and avoid thick deposits on sharper edges is not simple. If you believe this, see if the US Mint will disclose their exact process used in the plating pennies that miraculously withstand stamping without the cutting edge surface geometries of the dies ever breaking the relatively brittle plated surfaces. It is easy enough to sound the surfaces with fine test equipment to differentiate between a real US penny and a high school plated penny if your eyes refuse to see.
Look carefully, under say 30 power stereo magnification of a new MS penny and a freshly plated high school penny. You'll see the huge differences if you're objective.
Disagree on the simplicity statement. Why?
Because any industrial process to plate mass quantities of cents will absolutely require barrel plating and will NOT even consider a rack plating process which tends to plate far more metal on sharp edges vs recesses due to the effects of current density. My bet is that Ricko's cent was plated with a labor intensive rack process and therefore will look far different than any cent processed thru a mass production process. (as suggested)
The other advantages of barrel plating it that the work pieces tend to "round over" the sharp edges and deposit the plated layer much more evenly than other processes. I plated copper, zinc, and nickel on thousands of parts per barrel in a variety of plating machines. All to make high-volume auto parts. All to meet a thickness and performance specification.
I maintain that it is simple to plate thousands upon thousands of cents in a barrel plating process and yield the result as shown in the OP.
Additionally, we are not talking the same processes between plating steel cents and zinc stampings. Applies to oranges. Just because the mint refuses to provide details on how zinc cents are plated means nothing compared to plating steel cents 70 years ago. I guarantee you that the Mint barrel plates cents - they are not rack plated otherwise each cent would cost WAY too much to produce. In fact, the cost is too high even for barrel plating. And the mint is blowing smoke - it is simple to plate zinc stampings to anyone in the industry.......
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
@Cameonut....
No, we did not use rack plating...or barrel plating.... we simply submerged the steel cents in copper sulfate... works fine.... for us it was a simple experiment, we were not working for the mint. Cheers, RickO
I just wanted to thank you all for your insights and expertise - whether we find out the truth about these copper/steel cents or not! I feel like I've learned a lot today, just by reading this thread! To be honest, I'm not a big fan of nor much of a collector of Wheaties and/or steel cents. Though, I do happen to have a bag of roughly 8-10 lbs. of them. After reading all of this, I feel like I really want to search through the entire bag, just to see if I have any copper-coated steel cents! Maybe I'll find a renewed love of these coins! Thanks!
@ricko said: @Cameonut.... No, we did not use rack plating...or barrel plating.... we simply submerged the steel cents in copper sulfate... works fine.... for us it was a simple experiment, we were not working for the mint. Cheers, RickO
Indeed, and the results are as easy to determine having areas of much higher deposits (on the sharp edges) as dunging in the well and not nearly as dangerous.
That was my point, @Cameonut and I hope I am not stretching too far to conclude we agree on this.
I think we are all mostly on the same page, but submerging steel in CuSO4 solution simply applies "immersion plating" to the surface - only a few atoms thick. That's enough to impart color to the steel, but is is easily worn off.
We are to the point where we are talking semantics. There is "immersion plating" and also "electroplating".
I mentioned the definitive test on 3/24 - immersion plating will register zero on any thickness tester. Electroplating will register far more.
In the end, it really doesn't matter much as I still believe the coin in the original post is simply a steel cent with copper applied via one of the above mentioned processes.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
Hi all I'm new here I don't know if I'm even in the right place I was researching doing a lot of researching on the 1943 experimental cents and I've come across many this one seems a lot more informational for me I am still very confused to all the different metals used over the years I've come across many strange what I believe to be 1943 copper coated steel pennyI would appreciate it if you could direct me to somebody that is best experienced and knowledgeable some type of authority that can infinitively tell me what I have what's all this reading and searching for yearshas my head spinning I still look at them every other day and don't know what I have to this day seems almost helpless to me that no one will ever really know what all these experimental pieces are made of and how you can prove that they were made at the mint I thank you for any help or advice you can give to me
@Joeseph said:
Hi all I'm new here I don't know if I'm even in the right place I was researching doing a lot of researching on the 1943 experimental cents and I've come across many this one seems a lot more informational for me I am still very confused to all the different metals used over the years I've come across many strange what I believe to be 1943 copper coated steel pennyI would appreciate it if you could direct me to somebody that is best experienced and knowledgeable some type of authority that can infinitively tell me what I have what's all this reading and searching for yearshas my head spinning I still look at them every other day and don't know what I have to this day seems almost helpless to me that no one will ever really know what all these experimental pieces are made of and how you can prove that they were made at the mint I thank you for any help or advice you can give to me
@Joeseph said:
Hi all I'm new here I don't know if I'm even in the right place I was researching doing a lot of researching on the 1943 experimental cents and I've come across many this one seems a lot more informational for me I am still very confused to all the different metals used over the years I've come across many strange what I believe to be 1943 copper coated steel pennyI would appreciate it if you could direct me to somebody that is best experienced and knowledgeable some type of authority that can infinitively tell me what I have what's all this reading and searching for yearshas my head spinning I still look at them every other day and don't know what I have to this day seems almost helpless to me that no one will ever really know what all these experimental pieces are made of and how you can prove that they were made at the mint I thank you for any help or advice you can give to me
99.99999% of "copper coated steel" cents are just home-made jobs that are worth 3 cents each. Without even looking, I will state that yours are exactly that.
Joeseph - If you want to learn about various WW-II era coin experiments, borrow a copy of United States Pattern and Experimental Pieces of WW-II from the ANA Library or your local Library via ILL.
(Wizard Coin Supply is the distributor, but I do not know if they have any copies left.)
Comments
ok.
how does one authenticate them?
I wonder if the official copper-plated steel test strikes were also plated with zinc first ?
If not, then the genuine article would not have any zinc content (unless the "copper" plating was actually bronze).
I will have mine XRF tested, hopefully this weekend.
The OP's coin weighs 2.6 grams.
Normal weight for Steel Cents is
2.689 grams, and some weigh
2.754 grams.
The OP's coin is well within the 2.689
gram tolerance, even with the plating.
In my opinion, based on the
weight of the coin, the photo, etc.
it's a copper-plated normal Steel
Cent thats toned since the plating.
I've handled a few of the experimental
planchets mentioned (Heritage Auction)
and this coin is not close at all.
It's not any type of experimental planchet
or coating, imo.
Fred
for PCGS. A 49+-Year PNG Member...A full numismatist since 1972, retired in 2022
Thanks for the info.
What is your opinion of the one I posted ?
The weight on it is exactly 2.7 grams.
It's a trivial matter to copper plate a regular steel cent.
However the flow lines (luster) would be missing, which can be clearly seen on a modern copper coated zinc cent:
Now here's what it looks like when you copper plate a coin after it has been minted.
This is why the polishing and AT on your coin is suspicious and probably indicates it was not minted like that.
I'll be watching for results...
Think about this for a moment. If the mint plated the planchets after striking, how would anyone be able to tell if it was plated in 1943 or plated in 2017? It would be exactly the same process using exactly the same materials resulting in exactly the same finished product.
If the question is can people spend the time and effort required to strike-counterfeit a 1943 penny that would be undetectable, I guess the answer is that we'll never know.
We even plated steel cents with copper in high school chemistry class..... was a common experiment and required at that time....after the required part, we plated several of our own steel cents....I have no idea what happened to mine... lost in life's many hills and valley's.....and the process is indeed simple. Cheers, RickO
@CoinsAndMoreCoins....What you say is absolutely true.... When I said the process was simple, I was not indicating the complex process employed by the mint, or the obviously superior results. Cheers, RickO
Daniel, Your '43 looks counterfeit to me,
from the surfaces, rim area, etc.
for PCGS. A 49+-Year PNG Member...A full numismatist since 1972, retired in 2022
@drwstr123 I agree with Mr. Weinberg. The coin you posted on 3/28 is bad.
Additionally, IMO, the OP's coin is also a counterfeit. See if you can tell me why. I'll post answers later.
Clearly not based on those pictures.
Alrighty then. Thanks for the informative post!
I examined the coin under my microscope. I am extremely confident that the coin is an authentic 1943 steel cent. But the question is whether the copper coating was done by the US Mint or added by someone else after the fact. I believe the latter, but I will do a little more investigation.
I obtained an XRF test for the coin above.
The x-rays typically penetrate through the plating to the substrate below.
The readings were:
53.5% Iron
0.2% Manganese
46.3% copper.
What is interesting is that there was no trace of zinc. The X-rays certainly penetrated the copper plating to show the iron/manganese (steel) core. Had there been any zinc plating on the coin, that would show up, even if covered by copper. So this particular coin has no zinc in it. That would make sense for a copper plated steel test strike. With such an arrangement, there would be no added benefit by plating the steel with zinc and then copper. A copper plating alone would provide the same results without the added complication of the zinc plating step.
Copper washed war cents are out there. Many were placed in the wrappers of cigarettes for vending.
Interesting result, Dcarr. Paging @RWB ...
(We need a bat signal for times like this)
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Dumb question - does the process of putting copper on involve heat? If so, zinc has a pretty low melting temp, could the zinc have "fallen off" (for lack of a better term) during the copper process? Melting point of zinc is in the 700's whereas copper is in the 1900's.
Copper plating steel 1943 cents was a cottage industry. Worthless especially after the OP having his greasy fingers all over it.
Wait...if the elemental analysis was correct, shouldn't it have detected tin?
In making fake 1943 copper pennies, the zinc and the ugly black zinc oxides are removed with muriatic acid (HCl) or even vinegar and a wire brushing before the steel is electroplated with copper.
The zinc-copper pennies are not plated, but coated with thick enough copper that, when they came out in 1982, I placed a few on a range burner and they would puff up like jiffy pop popcorn and the zinc core would shatter and rattle in pieces.
@Frankcoins....Correct.... magnification will clearly show the difference between a high school plate job and a mint coin.... never tried the pop-a-coin trick.... Cheers, RickO
I should clarify that the XRF is reading the plating and the substrate to a depth of about 30 microns (.0012 inches). The 46.3% copper reading indicates that the copper plating is roughly .0006 inches thick. In other words, the XRF shows the average elemental content of the first .0012 inches into the item.
Yes, quite a few 1943 steel cents have been copper plated after the fact.
Removing the zinc prior to the plating would result in a matte acid-etched appearance of the steel. Copper plating alone would not significantly change that texture. However, wire-brushing/burnishing/polishing the coin after the zinc was removed and prior to the copper plating would make it much less matte. But then it would have the look of a shiny "reprocessed" cent, similar to the OP coin.
If the plating was bronze then yes. But if relatively pure copper was used for plating, there would be no tin.
2.68 grams. Diameter and thickness appear to be correct.
Correct. Has there ever been a time in which the mint used pure copper rather than a tin alloy? I can't imagine they ever did, copper is simply too soft.
Yeah, greasy fingers, thanks for the very informative post. I was eating a triple baconator from Wendy's also while handling it, without wiping my hands.
Please refrain from unnecessary and blatantly rude comments, thanks, and have a nice day.
Note in the ad how they stated only unspotted fine to UNC coins were suitable, and that higher-grade coins produce better results. It doesn't seem like this particular outfit cleaned the coins prior to plating (so coins done by them would likely still have some zinc content).
FWIW, I calculated an approximate weight of 0.0005" of copper plating on a cent at about 0.04 grams.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
i will give positive feed on this one ,,,because i have 30 experimental cents ,,,,and i have been told reprocessed or plated . i found em in the ground cause there corroded(as my research went on i discovered other coins of this look to be cast silver,,,yes a 1943 cent of cast silver 2 of them i have weigh 2.4 g..they had this redlike clay on them ,,so as told they were rusty fakes from the ground i decided cant hurt somthing thats junk so i washed it in warm water and wow that ( rust) washed rite off and a shiny silver cent appeared looks to have sinnocks initials it. as do at least 15 of the 30 i have,,,also i noticed the S on the cent in the pic i found this on several of mine above the date or in the hair. die cracks from liberty to god on obverse and trust to date on obverse ,,,i have a several with same cracks and ull find the same on 1942 judd . as far as proving they are from the mint look very close on the outer rim a few of mine say " Philadelphia mint experimental test planchette no denomination "and on reverse between wheat ears u might find a single letter wih a 4 to six number etched there ,im not giving example as it would bring upset.. most of mine weigh 2.6,,,,,some 2.9 ...and a few of them i could bent or shape to a square wi just my fingers very strange coins... a black light and a camera will also give you results,,my results after this had glowing blue specs on a few,,,(uranium?) those are going for meta testing this week ,as u also should before sending it to any grading service ,,,very few have any thing like we have dont let negativity get you down ,,,i found alot of mrkings numbers,initials ,die cracks,,,ive researched and compare thes coins to the ciculated ones and found out alot ,,,,,,yours i believe is from the mint,,,
as i believe mine also ,,,,,
Someone touched it before the paint dried.
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
Welcome to Collectors Universe. You will certainly add a lot of info for us to think about.
Smoebody got the tin foil wrapped too tight around their ears.
"Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
http://www.americanlegacycoins.com
Disagree on the simplicity statement. Why?
Because any industrial process to plate mass quantities of cents will absolutely require barrel plating and will NOT even consider a rack plating process which tends to plate far more metal on sharp edges vs recesses due to the effects of current density. My bet is that Ricko's cent was plated with a labor intensive rack process and therefore will look far different than any cent processed thru a mass production process. (as suggested)
The other advantages of barrel plating it that the work pieces tend to "round over" the sharp edges and deposit the plated layer much more evenly than other processes. I plated copper, zinc, and nickel on thousands of parts per barrel in a variety of plating machines. All to make high-volume auto parts. All to meet a thickness and performance specification.
I maintain that it is simple to plate thousands upon thousands of cents in a barrel plating process and yield the result as shown in the OP.
Additionally, we are not talking the same processes between plating steel cents and zinc stampings. Applies to oranges. Just because the mint refuses to provide details on how zinc cents are plated means nothing compared to plating steel cents 70 years ago. I guarantee you that the Mint barrel plates cents - they are not rack plated otherwise each cent would cost WAY too much to produce. In fact, the cost is too high even for barrel plating. And the mint is blowing smoke - it is simple to plate zinc stampings to anyone in the industry.......
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
@Cameonut....
No, we did not use rack plating...or barrel plating.... we simply submerged the steel cents in copper sulfate... works fine.... for us it was a simple experiment, we were not working for the mint. Cheers, RickO
@ricko,
Sometimes.....simple experiments are the most thought provoking, educational things that we can learn from.
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I just wanted to thank you all for your insights and expertise - whether we find out the truth about these copper/steel cents or not! I feel like I've learned a lot today, just by reading this thread! To be honest, I'm not a big fan of nor much of a collector of Wheaties and/or steel cents. Though, I do happen to have a bag of roughly 8-10 lbs. of them. After reading all of this, I feel like I really want to search through the entire bag, just to see if I have any copper-coated steel cents!
Maybe I'll find a renewed love of these coins! Thanks!
Rocking my "shiny-object-syndrome"!!!
I dream as a means of therapy. Even during the day.
I probably see one of these every week.
I think we are all mostly on the same page, but submerging steel in CuSO4 solution simply applies "immersion plating" to the surface - only a few atoms thick. That's enough to impart color to the steel, but is is easily worn off.
We are to the point where we are talking semantics. There is "immersion plating" and also "electroplating".
I mentioned the definitive test on 3/24 - immersion plating will register zero on any thickness tester. Electroplating will register far more.
In the end, it really doesn't matter much as I still believe the coin in the original post is simply a steel cent with copper applied via one of the above mentioned processes.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
Hi all I'm new here I don't know if I'm even in the right place I was researching doing a lot of researching on the 1943 experimental cents and I've come across many this one seems a lot more informational for me I am still very confused to all the different metals used over the years I've come across many strange what I believe to be 1943 copper coated steel pennyI would appreciate it if you could direct me to somebody that is best experienced and knowledgeable some type of authority that can infinitively tell me what I have what's all this reading and searching for yearshas my head spinning I still look at them every other day and don't know what I have to this day seems almost helpless to me that no one will ever really know what all these experimental pieces are made of and how you can prove that they were made at the mint I thank you for any help or advice you can give to me
Welcome @Joeseph.
http://lincolncentresource.com/
—————
Old thread.
Thank you for welcoming me what is old thread mean
This thread is nearly 2-years old.
99.99999% of "copper coated steel" cents are just home-made jobs that are worth 3 cents each. Without even looking, I will state that yours are exactly that.
Joeseph - If you want to learn about various WW-II era coin experiments, borrow a copy of United States Pattern and Experimental Pieces of WW-II from the ANA Library or your local Library via ILL.
(Wizard Coin Supply is the distributor, but I do not know if they have any copies left.)
Thank you very much for responding I appreciate any and all input wish I could show you pictures but I will definitely look into this book