Opinions Needed
USMC
Posts: 329 ✭✭✭✭
I was cleaning out my safe, and I came across a roll of pennies, all are 1997
and new, but they are not copper, they are just a silver color and very light
weight .... I believe they are all zinc - no copper
Does anyone know anything about these? Are they worth anything?
Thanks,
Al / USMC
0
Comments
I guess based off bad photos but Metallic look coated plastic novelty
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
I scanned the penny - I will photograph some ....
I should clarify where they came from. My wife was an
officer, (VP) of Bank of Boston (now retired 1967 - 2000)
When any silver was turned in, especially silver $$'s, the
tellers would let her know, and she would buy them, and
that also went for any silver coins or Silver Certificates.
She said a teller went to put pennies in her drawer, and
when she opened the roll, they were all a silver color, so
my wife paid the 50¢, took the roll home and put the roll
in the safe - she said she forgot to tell me .....
Al / USMC
Weigh it, stick a magnet to it, bounce it off the tabletop and hear the ring (or not),
Then drop it in water and zee how fast it will zinc.
am
How light? The copper cladding is very light. Should weigh about 2.45g
Could be Chinese or perhaps even Russian counterfeits. Without more details it's just pure speculation. Semper Fi!
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
BOOMIN!™
It would be hard to have a full full of the actual error coin
I cannot imagine that a full cent roll would all be missing the copper layer, the odds of that seem very much against it.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
This is the best I could photograph the pennies .....
They do not stick to a magnet - I weighed one on my wife's
cooking scale, it is 0003 kg
Al / USMC
Always a first time - What would you suggest to find out if they are real or not?
Would it be worth the fee sending to PCGS to see what they say?
They came from the bank my wife retired from - from a teller who was putting
some pennies in her drawer opened a roll and this is what was there in the
roll - all 1997 - all new
If it comes back good - it would be interesting what they are worth .....
Al / USMC
Those look like normal copper cents
That is the best I could do for picture - they are a silver color - not copper color
Al / USMC
.
based on the picture above this post, i'd say your camera/phone can take sufficient images but you just need to work out the essentially #1 problems with coin photos, the lighting. try using 2 at say the positions on a steering wheel where your hands go and put the camera directly above the coin.
if it weren't for your saying they are silver in color, i'd say you may be color blind because they look exactly like copper/bronze in the pic above!
look forward to seeing where this goes.
find someone here you trust and send a couple to them. wouldn't cost too much in shipping for a potential, albeit very slight, payday in lieu of a rather expensive and risky shipment to pcgs. at least until you know if it would be worth it or not.
They look like zinc to me. Could be plated, hard to tell from photos. Maybe send one to our host? I do not think you will get definitive answers from those photos, unfortunately.
Edit:. Also, since you seem to have many of the same thing, try weighing all 50 on the scale at the same time (or 10 if 50 won't fit). This will give you an average weight and more confidence in whether these are the appropriate weight or not.
Aercus Numismatics - Certified coins for sale
Don’t send any in
Get better pictures here first
The big part for determining what you have is to get the color in the photo to match the coin
That’s lighting
Also post pics of both sides
These may be someone’s experiment
Well first no I would not suggest sending in all 50, I would suggest that you attempt to get a better photo because these look like normal yellow/brassy color Lincoln cents from your photo. And a good weight of one would also be very helpful, a normal cent weighs 2.5 grams. If these are really missing the clad layer an average weight should be just a tick under that as the copper layer is very thin and does not weight much. If you have a local coin dealer take a couple in and see what he thinks. I cannot help with value if these are really missing the copper layer as I'm not a dealer or error collector.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
I will photograph it outside tomorrow in natural light.
Hopefully I can be at better picture front & rear ....
I weighed one on my wife's baking scale - it is 0003 kg ?
Is there a member here that is familiar with errors like
this that I could send one to for their opinion ....
Any help appreciated
Al / USMC
A few random thoughts...
IF these turn out to he unplated, don't touch them or even breathe on them. The exposed zinc will corrode at the drop of a hat.
When you say they are light weight, is that compared to a copper cent or plated zinc cent?
The plating mix could just be off and they might just look a little silvery. (In your picture my screen is picking up just a hint of yellow).
As others have said, a solid roll of unplated cents is unlikely, to say the least, but who knows.
@USMC It looks to be plated. I have a 1979 penny that was plated. Take one of the worse condition of the bunch then take a knife or razor blade and scrape the edge. Almost guaranteed you will find that there is copper underneath. Don't waste money sending them in for certification. I also have a genuine unplated 1983 cent that is certified. It looks just like the 1943 cent with a bit less luster.
Successful BST with ad4400, Kccoin, lablover, pointfivezero, koynekwest, jwitten, coin22lover, HalfDimeDude, erwindoc, jyzskowsi, COINS MAKE CENTS, AlanSki, BryceM
A cent from 1997 would weigh 2.5 grams give or take
The kitchen scale probably does not have the accuracy to measure to 1/10ths of a gram.
The plating on a cent is thinner than a hair
The tolerances for the weight of a plated cent are such that the actual weight cannot be used to determine if it is underweight due to missing plating
Well I don't know how accurate you wife's scale is but .0003 KG is .3 grams, which would suggest that these are underweight. If you can find a better scale that can weigh in grams to two decimal places that would be a great way to help sort this out.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
His weight is .3 grams which is weigh underweight (see what I did there?) The zinc core would be 8x heavier at 2.45 grams.
The picture color is wrong, we're told. The weight is way off or inaccurately measured. We've got nothing to go on
. 3 grams is underweight by a lot.
Where is the decimal point?
0.003 grams would be correct. .0003 grams would make them plastic.
If they all came out of one roll it is nearly impossible for them to be good. There would have had to have been hundreds or thousands of them in the bag that the roll came from.
You are correct I was thinking one and typed the other, fixed.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
I gotta believe he's reading or reporting that wrong. 3 grams would be correct. 0.3 grams would be plastic.
The scale was in kg - the scale said 0003 kg unless I did read it wrong?
How can I check if they are plastic? What if i take one and smack it with
a hammer ... lol
Al / USMC
There had to be a decimal point or that is 3 kg which is 6.6 pounds
I'm guessing it is 0.003 kg which would be the correct weight.
They look like normal cents to me. It is not unusual to occasionally find Zincolnsc that have a more pinkish hue.
All of your tests are useless, frankly. Zinc cents aren't magnetic. The zinc core weighs 2.45 grams compared to 2.5 grams for a regular cent. You'd need a much more accurate scale to measure the difference.
And your photo is copper colored.
I'm starting to hear circus music.
Take them to a shop with an XRF to determine metal content.
In your next pictures please include some normal cents for comparison.
Collector, occasional seller
The pennies are silver colored - I took the pictures on my desk. The
lamp has a regular 60 watt bulb in it. Tomorrow I am going to get
some good pictures outside in natural light, not by the lamp here
on my desk and try to get an exact weight of the pennies. I will go
to a coin dealer near me to weigh one .....
Al / USMC
.
Make a potato battery out of them. Use one of them for the anode and a copper Cent for the cathode or whatever... if they are really zinc it should work...
Google potato zinc battery...
But as a control, you will have to try it with two copper pennies as well
Won't work. It's zinc whether there's copper on the surface or not.
PUH- LAY - TED
just scrape the edge of one and it will end the thoughts of having found 50 cents that are missing the copper plating.
Successful BST with ad4400, Kccoin, lablover, pointfivezero, koynekwest, jwitten, coin22lover, HalfDimeDude, erwindoc, jyzskowsi, COINS MAKE CENTS, AlanSki, BryceM
I am sorry if I have bored anyone with my questions
about these pennies. I am new to this forum, and my
dad always told me if I do not know an answer to a
question I may have - ask, because there is no question
is that is stupid if your looking for an answer. I came
here looking for an answer on what to do, but it seems
it is a joke now .....
I am a novice at coin collecting, and not an experienced
professional at collecting. I am sure everyone started on
the ground floor like where I am at now
Al / USMC
Ignore people who are just playing around. It's a fair question, but we need better data.
@USMC its good you came here and asked. Take one scrape the edge and you will find they were plated by somebody. Its easy to be deceived sometimes but it is highly unlikely to find a whole roll of unplaced zinc cents of any year. Take 5 seconds get a knife from the kitchen and scrape the edge of one and you will see the copper underneath.
Successful BST with ad4400, Kccoin, lablover, pointfivezero, koynekwest, jwitten, coin22lover, HalfDimeDude, erwindoc, jyzskowsi, COINS MAKE CENTS, AlanSki, BryceM
They do exist. Here is a genuine one
Successful BST with ad4400, Kccoin, lablover, pointfivezero, koynekwest, jwitten, coin22lover, HalfDimeDude, erwindoc, jyzskowsi, COINS MAKE CENTS, AlanSki, BryceM
Not a joke and we would love to help you solve your question, we just need better data to help get there.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
Test scratches would damage it and to the extent that if it is plated the copper underneath could also come off.
It could be scratched to the zinc core.
Take some photos showing one of your 1997's next to a normal looking Uncirculated zinc core Lincoln (1983 or later). This way we will have something for comparison rather than only interpreting the lighting.
I would not do any scraping yet if they were mine as an unplated planchet isn't the only legitimate minting variation that could be worth some kind of premium.
Back in 1983 I had one from change that looked significantly different. Turned out some had a different plating mix and looked lighter than normal. At least for a while some were being sold for a large premium. Not sure if they still do anymore.
May turn out to be nothing, but I would wait until after posting comparison photos and getting more opinions here before deciding what to do with them.
"To Be Esteemed Be Useful" - 1792 Birch Cent --- "I personally think we developed language because of our deep need to complain." - Lily Tomlin
I would give you $1 to just cut the dang thing apart $1 for a penny. Funny yes mean no. Welcome to the forum and I get put off all the time. These folks do this as a gift and day after day. Sometimes a little humor is needed but these are mostly good folks with excellent advice 🤓
🎶 shout shout, let it all out 🎶
When you do the new photos get a new copper cent to help show color side by side.
Drop one of these coins on a hard surface and listen to the ring it makes. Compare the sound it makes to the sound a regular cent makes when dropped on the same hard surface. A plastic coin won't ring. I'm guessing these are just regular cents that have discolored over time due to long storage in a harsh environment or perhaps less likely they are regular issue cents that have been plated.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I think I have one of those too. Always assumed it was just plated. When I get home I’ll take some pics provided I can find it.
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Good luck with the new pictures... and if you know anyone at a lab with XRF capability, have them check one. Cheers, RickO
I wouldn't ruin a coin to learn. If uncirculated and a roll quantity, you wouldn't want 49 coins and 1 ruined. What about the wrapper? How was it wrapped? (shotgun roll, paper with any printing on it, Brinks)?, etc. I like @ifthevamzarockin mention to take a side-by-side picture. Try your camera again with improved lighting today. The difference to a normal coin might be enough to better visualize your unique set of coins.
A Barber Quartet is made up of Nickels, Dimes, Quarters, and Halves.
I do not have the original wrapper they were in, they were put into just a regular wrapper, because the
original was torn open, and there was not a full 50 pennies in the new roll. I will have to count them. It
looks like there is about 30 total ....