Missing Clad 1986 Washington Copper Quarter

[catyron]

I found this in today in my shop. It is a 1986 D Washington Quarter missing the clad on both sides, resulting in a copper quarter.



It also has a mint defect -- a nick taken out on the edge of the obverse at upper left. It is not a "worn" place but a gash made by a machine, a weird cut into the rim. The whole edge of the rim goes inward and even turns a little corner at each side of the cut. The reverse does not have this defect.

It did not come in change, oddly enough. We have a little magic shop, and we have a sort of "good luck altar" where people put foreign coins, Mardi Gras Doubloons, and lots of pennies -- like a wishing well.

It was Easter today and all the staff but one woman was off. I'm Jewish, so i work on Christian holidays. To my surprise, we had a run of customers all day long. By late afternoon, i realized that i was out of pennies in the till -- but it was Easter Sunday, so i could not go to the bank for more. I decided to raid the "good luck altar," so i scooped up a half a handful of coins, threw the foreigns and Mardi Gras Doubloons, and anything silver-looking back on the altar, walked over to the till to check the pennies for early dates, and there it was -- a freaking copper quarter!

I had never seen one before and did not know they existed, but the moment i saw it, i knew what it had to be.

I looked on eBay and saw a few of these missing clad Washington Quarters for sale at values from about $100.00 to about $300.00 for comparable years. (The missing clad State Quarters go for much more, presumably because of the difficulty of making up a complete set of unclad ones.)

I apologize for the quality of the photos -- i'm just using my phone.

Well, anyway, this qualifies as my best find of the year so far, and i literally did nothing but pick it up!

 

[Jose The Goon]

Interesting find. Also, interesting terminology for such a coin; "unclad". This is a perfect opportunity for the TreasureNet community to "coin" a new
term that can become the norm when mentioning such a coin among detectorists & coin collectors. I propose that from this day forward, until the day we die,
such coins that are "unclad" be referred to as "naked coins".
Unclad definition:
un·clad
/ˌənˈklad/
adjective
adjective: unclad

1.
unclothed; naked.
2.
not provided with cladding.
"unclad girders"

 

[l.cutler]

What does it weigh? If it is truly missing both clad layers it would be extremely light.

 

[Potts]

Looks like a Quarter that was cleaned with copper penny's using salt and vinegar.

 

[catyron]

Thanks for the helpful comments.

I compared it against two regular clad quarters and it is definitely thinner.

The reeding is weak. The strike is weak overall.

I have been reading up and looking at "copper quarters" --

Some have been found which have been marked with vibro-engraved letters (E or F or G) and little or no reeding. They seem to be someone's "game." This looks similar, but without the engraving.

I looked up the red-hot-quarter-in-methananol copper plating trick but this doesn't look like one of those.

The colour in my photos is far too red-orange and bright -- it is actually the colour of a medium brownish copper penny.

How would "cleaning it with copper pennies using salt and vinegar" remove the cladding?

I looked up the weight of a regular quarter (5.670 grams) and i will get it weighed tomorrow.

Whether it is a genuine missing clad, a spoof, a counterfeit, a plating job, or a clad-removal job, i love it.

Thanks, all, for your kind tips.

 

[Toecutter]

100 to 300 for copper state quarters.... dang i better get my tumbler going.... lemon juice with the clad in the tumbler will have same effect.... not sure why though...

 

[A2coins]

Cool find