Unique Look To This 1980-D Cent

What you are seeing is pretty typical to early 80s copper cents. They call these 'woodies' in that there is a wood grain appearance to the coins. I believe it's created by an uneven melting process before rolling the copper into strips to be punched later. The uneven blend causes some of the copper to form a different patina. I think if you did a search, you'll get a better explanation than mine.

Folks like this look and some collectors build woody sets. I like the look to; interesting. Some better than others, so keep an eye out for the nice ones! Good luck!

WOW! That's a GREAT find! It's a two sided 80's woody...and a very nice one at that.

Nobody knows for certain how these happened but I came up with the most plausible theory...IMHO.

It's not due to an improper alloy mix. It's from contamination of the sheet of copper while it was being machine rolled. The sheets are passed back and forth until they are the right thickness to make planchets. I believe the rollers were dirty and machine scum got pressed into the planchet sheet. Of course, after mint processing, these impregnated streaks cannot be seen immediately....but they are there. They normally only show when the coin tones because those stripes will tone at a different rate due to their "dirty" composition.

Very nice woody,congrats
John1

Very nice!


Plausible, indeed.