Was going through my odd-box tonight and wanted to post some sintered coins I found a while back. Initially I thought the dime was a planchet lamination error but when I weighed the coin it turned out to be the same as a normal Dime. The "datum" being that a true planchet lamination error (i.e. one or two layers of nickel missing) would cause a weight difference. Not sure how the photos turned out but on the dime the obverse is copper toned with nickel peaking through, and the reverse is very obviously copper and just a slight hint of silver sheen from the nickel.
The nickel is VERY copper like, not slightest hint of nickel color or sheen anywhere on the coin. It also weighed the same as a regular nickel, if it were copper (not sure how that would work as there is no planchet of this size for a copper coin) then the weight would differ greatly.
Just wanted to cross check my deductive process on the matter or see if there is data I am missing on it. Thanks
The nickel looks like it is a bit beat up with environmental damage, I do not see any luster at all which is required for properly diagnosing an improperly annealed planchet. The dime suffers from corrosion and environmental damage as well.
Most of the nickels I find when I metal detect look exactly like that one. I don't find a lot of them mostly because they are in the same range as pull tabs (and incidently smaller gold rings). I always start out digging every pull tab/nickel signal in the hopes of finding that gold ring. After 20 or 30 pull tabs and half a dozen nickels I get tired of it and discriminate out signals in that range.
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