Silver penny?

[DixieLandMan]

I was out MDing yesterday and found what looks like to be a silver penny. I do not have any pictures yet but I showed my wife and she wondered what it was. It was dated 1983 but silver colored. Has anyone ever found anything like this? I thought it may ahve been just the copper wore off but it is in nice condition.

 

[cti4sw]

Might just be an unplated penny. One pic would help.

 

[BosnMate]

When I was a kid, mercury wasn't considered as bad as it is now. We broke a thermometer and recovered the button of mercury. I had the mercury in the palm of my hand, my father showing me how to turn a penny into silver by rubbing it with mercury. That would have been in the mid '40's, and I haven't tried it lately with a modern clad, but perhaps that's what you found if the outer skin is really copper. I don't know if that would work on clad coins, so I'm just kind of thinking out loud if you know what I mean.

 

[Scrammer]

I have been to many trade shows for the electroplaters various groups and one of the "freebies" given out at booths are pennies (usually) that have been plated. It shows color, adhesion, etc. for different plating methods and substances. I have a few nickel plated, chrome plated, etc..

 

[DixieLandMan]

I know it's basically worthless w/o a picture so I'll post a picture tomorrow with the weight of the penny as well.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Damn..alot of people are finding these "Silver " Pennies...I want one!!!!....lol...as mentioned in other posts..its probally plated or something

 

[cti4sw]

I have a mercury-dipped and an unplated in my collection. They're uncommon but not scarce. Keep an eye on your change, that's where mine came from.

 

[DixieLandMan]

Ok, here are some pictures but they are not the best quality. I weighed each penny. 'Silver Penny' is 2.5 grams as well as the Zincoln. The copper penny weighs 3.11 grams. Can I retire or is this common?

 

[heybubbajay]

It looks like the thin copper coating wore off from being buried in the ground. 1983 was the first year of the 'zinc Lincoln penny'.

I find numerous dug alloy coins with the the coating worn off...quarters that look copper etc...

 

[DixieLandMan]

That's what I thought too. Just looking for that one item that I can retire on.

 

[Hendrix]

It is funny that you brought up the topic of "silver" pennies. I found one last month. I suspect that mine was plated by someone learning how to do electroplating or was plated to make a novelty item.

 

[TreasurePirate69]

To be clear, you can't retire from this find. They are fairly common and often come from home or school science experiments. Pennies can be easily plated. As others have said, it is also possible that the thin copper coating has worn off. But if that were the case then you would likely still see patches of copper on at least some parts of the coin. If it is totally silver colored then it is likely plated with something. If you go out to youtube and search for "turn pennies silver and gold" you will see countless examples of this easy process.

 

[Nickleanddime]

They did make a zinc penny, or something like it. I found a tube of them in a old house I lived in. They were dated 1950's and were tarnishing like a regular penny does. Gramps said they made them during the war to save copper. And no not talking the steel pennies I'm pretty sure he said zinc.

 

[cheese]

That was 1943, WWII was over in 1945. They were steel cents with a zinc plating, not zinc cents, but he was correct that it was to save copper. Zinc cents weren't produced until 1982.