False Hope

mills84

Jr. Member
Mar 3, 2012
22
1
Costa Mesa, CA
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
This coin gave me a little false hope when opening the roll :/

Judging by the date and mint mark (1998 P), I'm fairly certain the coin isn't worth any more than face value. However, I wanted to check with the experts here first, before wrapping it back up.

This is just nickel covering the edge? Pretty common?

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SAz06.jpg

V0eup.jpg


- Mills
 

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huricanesrul

Full Member
Jan 1, 2012
215
34
PA
Detector(s) used
explorer xs
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All Treasure Hunting
I hate when that happens......somebody out there thinks its funny to plate coins maybe trying to sell as silver ! i've found a 1997 dime , a 1973 half , and a 1972 ike that look silver. my half looks and sound silver. I scratched the ridge of the ike and saw copper.
 

JJTheisen

Full Member
Apr 19, 2009
178
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USAF
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mills,

Unfortunately, there are some jokers out there who really enjoy getting a rise out of folks by either coloring or dipping coins in different fake metals to make it look like they are silver. I feel that is the case with what you are looking at. My advice is to spend it somewhere instead of getting someone else's hopes up. Just sayin.

HH
JJ
 

JT10

Full Member
Oct 29, 2010
134
0
The Mitten State
I think it is just plated. The best way to tell, however, is to weigh it on a gram scale. Clad halves weigh 11.3 grams. 40%ers weigh 11.5 grams, and 90% halves weigh 12.5 grams. You can buy a cheap gram scale at several places, including ebay, amazon and Harbor Freight Tools.

I think some proofs were silver starting in 1992, but they should all have "s" mintmarks.
 

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mills84

Jr. Member
Mar 3, 2012
22
1
Costa Mesa, CA
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Interesting. Thanks for the info guys. I agree that it seems plated.

I'll try to grind the plating off the edge before releasing it back into the wild haha.

HH

- Mills
 

Bigheed

Bronze Member
Apr 11, 2011
2,291
230
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I don't think all of them were done maliciously. Theres many science experiments that kids can do for plating coins, making magic pennies, etc.

we used to make magic pennies in college to sell during engineering week from the chemical engineering society. I don't recall the exact process but it involved plating them and they would be silver but when you took them home and put them on a burner coil or in a frying pan and added heat they would turn gold, it was a pretty neat little trick.

Bigheed
 

antlerman23

Full Member
Jun 6, 2011
204
23
Rochester Minnesota
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Ace 250
Fisher F2 (DD coil)
Whites Classic ID
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Bigheed said:
I don't think all of them were done maliciously. Theres many science experiments that kids can do for plating coins, making magic pennies, etc.

we used to make magic pennies in college to sell during engineering week from the chemical engineering society. I don't recall the exact process but it involved plating them and they would be silver but when you took them home and put them on a burner coil or in a frying pan and added heat they would turn gold, it was a pretty neat little trick.

Bigheed
i just did that in chemistry! hahahaha sadly i dont remember how it worked either... :laughing7: oh well.
 

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