silver colored Indian head cent
SkyOrDie
Posts: 2 ✭
I'm new. I inherited a bag of coins. I don't understand what's going on with the 1867 Indian head cent in the photo. I can only find references to bronze coins. Is it plated or a sandwich? If so, the plating is very thick. The edges are also silver colored.
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Probably plated by someone long, long ago. Who knows why? Not done at the US Mint.
Wash you hands after handling it, they were usually done with mercury- breaking open thermometers was popular method it seems in the day- they seemed to really pick up after people heard of the steel 1944 cents I believe. I've seen them coated likte that right up until the 1970's.
Yes, I used to play with mercury and plating coins when I was a kid. That's the look alright.
You have to breathe quite a bit of mercury fumes to get hurt though. Most of us, over 50, have a mouthful of the stuff.......
@SkyOrDie....Welcome aboard...IHC's are neat coins and fun to collect. I agree with the above, probably a mercury coated cent....we did that when we were kids... It did not come that way from the mint. Cheers, RickO
the 1867 Indian penny is called post mint damaged which means it was done on purpose by someone after the coin left the mint
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More importantly, time to study up on grading IHC and checking for errors. Loupe needed, digital scale to weigh the 64s for CU vs Br. Indianvarieties.com and varietyvista.com for starters. Have fun. Peace Roy
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Mercury! Yikes! Good thing I'm washing my hands a lot these days. Thanks for the info and the links.