Silver 1956 wheat penny???

[MrMorph]

I found a 1956 Wheat penny yesterday. It is not copper or brown in colour. It is silver. When I dropped it on the table, it sounded like a copper penny. It is either AU55 or maybe AU58, however, I can't seem to find anything on it other than the copper listings anywhere. Anyone have any ideas?

 

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[ckcdecks1]

i am buy no means an expert or a novice, but i did read recently that therer were like 12 steel pennies made, very rare, see if it is magnatized.
kurtis

 

[Jeff In North Georgia]

I've found several over the years that plated with chrome, nickel or silver. That would be my guess.

Jeff

 

[Montana Jim]

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,82362.0.html

Also - there was a very recent post about school xperiments where they coated pennies with silver, or murcury, or whatever to change to colors, coating or appearences. I can't find it though...

Someone will explain it better...

 

[Cannonman17]

It's not a mint mistake, it's post mint and potentially dangerous. I have seen some like this before and while it is true that pennies are often coated in a variety of metals in science classes all over the country every year they are also sometimes coated (although I don't know why) by individuals with mercury, which of course is quite toxic. As common as 56 wheaties are and as dangerous and mercury can be I would actually get rid of it somehow.

 

[Michael Karr]

Someone put it thur a chemical bath,,,,,,,,,,,Mike

 

[diggerfororo]

Before I retired, I used to work on large airconditioning equiptment. One job entailed recoating the contacts of the big motor starters. This was done by using "silver oxide" and a damp rag to reapply silver to the copper contacts. This is a very old prossess which was used by the Romans to "silver wash bronze coins. I don't know whether this is what was done to your penny or not but I wouldn't take a chance in testing, incase it is mercury. It might not hurt you in the least BUT why take a chance for a PENNY.

Les

 

[treasureace14]

im really slow lol..............
i didnt no there was such a thing lol.

 

[undertaker]

I had the same question when I discovered a silver colored 1868 indian head penny. I was told it is probably coated with another metal, although this one does seem to feel lighter than a my other indian heads.

 

[pinkysbliss]

Here's my two cents ....if its magnetic its steal, if not I could not tell you what it is...as for the chemical bath thing, I have a 1995 Nickel which I thought was missing clad (new to this) but it was quickly pointed out to me that nickels are not made like that...its copper nickel alloy mix or something like that..that make Nickels shiny..so I was told that it is most likely a chemical bath that did this to it. And that it does not look like a wrong metal used due to the lack of mint luster, not sure what they mean by that..if missing a layer of clad I do not think it would be shiny..hehe...gona add some pics for you to see..


"TR"

Did a google on this.. go to http://www.omnicoin.com/user_view.aspx?id=gm99 page two or do a search for Silver Lincoln penny on this site..this is a new site to me, seems this has a huge listing of coins, photos and details.

 

[cival war hunter 2 !]

I have a 1959-s steel penny that my friend gave to me try a magnet.

 

[EARL51]

Here is what I can contribute. I did electroplating for 23 years. I used to barrel plate quarters copper for my buddy that had a pinball type amusement route. Beats the nail polish painting that wore off. You should see some of the customers that saw them and thought they were mint errors. They would lie through the cracks in their teeth saying it was theirs and put in by mistake.
Anyway as far as pennies being plated, sure, nickel plating them the same way. Pure nickel that are chips used in the plating process are magnetic. Nickels you spend are a alloy with copper. Not magnetic.
Then again I put mercury on coins back in the sixth grade.

 

[Wvmountainman]

Man i have a bucket that where rolls of Wheaties and i could swear other than the 43s a few are planchets of gold and 1 silverish alot of times the wieght tells all

 

[dejapooh]

i am buy no means an expert or a novice, but i did read recently that therer were like 12 steel pennies made, very rare, see if it is magnatized.
kurtis

Not possible. The steel cents were 1943 only. This is WAY too late for that. The only error I can see is a wrong planchet. If they struck the coin on a dime blank, but the sound would be significantly different. Probably just post mint damage.

 

[dejapooh]

I have a 1959-s steel penny that my friend gave to me try a magnet.

There is no such thing as a 1959 Steel cent. You must be mistaken.

 

[fistfulladirt]

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