Error South Carolina Quarter

Thanks for all of the help guys. It is a P-mint and far too light to be silver. I also scanned it with my metal detector and it gave a reading identical to a PA quarter. I'm going to swing by the post office tomorrow to get an accurate weight.

I'll keep ya'll posted, and thanks again,
Ryan

or - oh yeah! - It could have been struck on a planchet for a foreign coin (maybe a pure CuNi coin). There's a few examples of cents being struck on 2 centavo blanks and the like back in the 40s, when the mint struck coins for other nations, but I'm not so sure about today...

Hey all,

So here's what I have so far:

South Carolina Quarter, P mint.

Weight: 5.634g (weight of Montana quarter on same scale: 5.683 g)

Metal detector: Same reading/signal as other State Quarters.


So, we know: Its not silver (metal detector and weight). Its not plated (weighs slightly less than other State Quarters and detail is too sharp [see photo below]). It is definately not clad. (see photo above).

Any ideas on what might of caused this or what type of error this may be? I am interested on posting this coin up on ebay if it has a value greater than, say $2, but I've found other common errors (clips, blank planchets) before and know not to get my hopes up. So any information on what it is and how much it might be worth would be greatly appreciated.

I'd also like to thank all the folks above. This is a very knoweledgable forum and I know where I can come now when I have questions.

Thanks again folks,
Ryan

Wrong planchet State Quarters have sold for $10,000.00
If you think you have one then you need to send it to James Wiles at CONECA to authenticate it.
It will cost you $5.00 plus return postage+insurance.
Then you will KNOW FOR CERTAIN.

Error Trends Coin Magazine, April 2010 issue, pg.11, "No Copper" Clad Coins.

There is a condition seen every so often where the copper core of a clad coin is hidden. It does happen when the outer clad layer gets folded down across the edge of the planchet. It can happen when a slightly worn set of punching dies in a Blanking Press allows the clad layer to extend across the edge of the blank.
When that happens, the clad layer covers the copper center core of the blank, giving the impression that there hasn't been a copper core at all.

It goes on to say weighing the coin is the best way to diagnose whether it is clad or silver.

Something else to consider.

when the different layers of metal are put together, they are rolled through a press to make them the correct width for a planchet. This is a layer of Nickel, then copper, then another Nickel. Sometimes the end of the roll, there was not enough copper to make it to the end and the result is a planchet without a copper core which could be the right size just minus the copper core. The weight varies on these errors. Could explain what youy see here, maybe not. just another suggestion.

One way to check is to find a letter and scratch a mark in the reeding of the edge of the coin. This way it shows if the coin has a copper coin or not without ruining the surface of the coin. I've identified a few like this and it was only plated with a foreign substance.