Brass/Bronze 1969-D Lincoln Penny???

[richg]

Got to work this morning and as usual pulled out my pocket change, I noticed the 1969 D right off the bat then I thought oh someone cleaned it so I put it back in my pocket. When I got a few minutes I got my 15X out and took a peak, no evidence of cleaning no signs of copper anywhere including the rim. I was getting a little excited. When I got into the sunlight I pulled it out again and could see a hint of copper very slight copperish only visible in sunlight. I took a file to the rim and shaved a few flakes off. Same dullish gold color all the way through. Anyone have any ideas?? Maybe it is worth a buck or two!!

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Somewhere in the world are hundreds of silver plated cents from just my high school's photography lab. We used to leave the cents in the developer over a weekend and they would be nicely silver plated by Monday. I'm sure coins have been brass plated, silver plated, gold plated, galvanized and parkerized by bored or mischievous folks since the time of alchemists who were trying to "make" gold.

 

[djui5]

I got a gold plated 1999 P mint

 

[l.cutler]

All Lincoln cents minted from 1962 to early 1982 are brass, 95% copper 5% zinc.

 

[richg]

I am still quite up in the air, if the coin was plated with anything wouldnt the copper show up after I filed some stuff off the edge? I tried to get a picture but it didnt work out to well. It looks to be cleaned and maybe a bit porous but I am not sure. Why would you clean a 1969-D cent?? It is the same color as far through as I filed, not much but enough that plating or anything would be exposed. Could some kind of chemical reaction turned this coin the golden color?? If it did, could it seep into several layers of the chemical?? I have no clue. I guess it is possible. Thanks for the help.

 

[Shortround]

At an old job, we plated several pennies with gold. If I remember correctly, we plated them with zinc then with gold - the zinc was to get the gold to stick. I still have one somewhere . I am sure anyone who has worked in a circuit board factory of somewhere where plating is done has produced plated coins.

 

[shelltox]

Drop a penny into a cup of vinegar mixed with salt.

 

[IndianaSmith]

Richg- I was suprised to see your post. I'd found one as well years ago, and long enough to be roughly the same era as yours. I'd given it to my dad, and have asked him about it since, but says he doesn't have it. lol, more like can't find it

Anyway, I can remember mine feeling lighter in weight even just from holding it in my hand. Try weighing it & comparing it to a copper one, I'd be curious as to what you find out about this. I need to get dad to look for the one I'd given him as well.

Smitty

 

[fiatboy]

I also once found a dullish, gold-colored penny. I'm pretty sure it wasn't plated. It felt like it had a different weight than other pennie, but who knows? I couldn't figure out why it looked different. Probably a chemical reaction of sorts. Don't know what happened to it. But I remember when I had it, I obsessed over it, because I couldn't figure out why it was gold-colored. Drove me bonkers, so it's perhaps best that it's gone. Everyone said, it's just a penny, who cares? :P