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Posted 10/11/2006 1:20 pm
madness - There are two distinct possibilities as I see it.
1. This coin has spent a considerable time underwater and has eroded. The copper is more reactive than the Nickel in the outerlayer so you get a recess in the copper portion of the rim and pitting in the surface cladding where copper erodes out of the layer.
2. It could be some form of counterfeit that I don't recognize.
I am leaning to #1 for several reasons. That is NOT because counterfeiting of 25 cent coins is not being done. IT IS. When I was still in New England there was a forger making quarters of copper that were dipped in mercury to pass. They were first found in 1999. The first ones noticed were old style 1999 quarters with the date under George's head. Of course none of those was ever actually made so they were obvious forgeries. I heard from bank tellers that other dates were also found.
I have come across fewer than a dozen counterfeit quarters dated after 1965. There are many counterfeits of silver quarters made before 1965, but clad quarters have not been such a large target. Most of the counterfeit quarters I have seen are struck from transfer dies using a variety of metals at hand - copper, nickel, steel and white metal.
But to me the edge tells a lot and in this case it looks eroded. We lived near an iron bottom pond with a public beach. Every year after the swimming season you could find coins with a metal detector. The coins that stayed in for a few years looked an AWFUL LOT like the one you posted.
But to confirm what you have - here are some suggestions.
First weigh it accurately. Erosion of the sort I think I see will produce an underweight of at least 5 to 20%. I actually saw one where the clad layers had seperated after all of the copper eroded out.
Second - look at the edge closely is the copper layer set inward from the C-N layers?
1. This coin has spent a considerable time underwater and has eroded. The copper is more reactive than the Nickel in the outerlayer so you get a recess in the copper portion of the rim and pitting in the surface cladding where copper erodes out of the layer.
2. It could be some form of counterfeit that I don't recognize.
I am leaning to #1 for several reasons. That is NOT because counterfeiting of 25 cent coins is not being done. IT IS. When I was still in New England there was a forger making quarters of copper that were dipped in mercury to pass. They were first found in 1999. The first ones noticed were old style 1999 quarters with the date under George's head. Of course none of those was ever actually made so they were obvious forgeries. I heard from bank tellers that other dates were also found.
I have come across fewer than a dozen counterfeit quarters dated after 1965. There are many counterfeits of silver quarters made before 1965, but clad quarters have not been such a large target. Most of the counterfeit quarters I have seen are struck from transfer dies using a variety of metals at hand - copper, nickel, steel and white metal.
But to me the edge tells a lot and in this case it looks eroded. We lived near an iron bottom pond with a public beach. Every year after the swimming season you could find coins with a metal detector. The coins that stayed in for a few years looked an AWFUL LOT like the one you posted.
But to confirm what you have - here are some suggestions.
First weigh it accurately. Erosion of the sort I think I see will produce an underweight of at least 5 to 20%. I actually saw one where the clad layers had seperated after all of the copper eroded out.
Second - look at the edge closely is the copper layer set inward from the C-N layers?
), he will most likely concur it is worthless.
