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 Replies: 12 / Views: 10,148 |
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New Member
United States
5 Posts |
Hi there, I honestly doubt that this is anything to get excited over, however- My mother has come across a copper-looking nickel that neither one of us have ever seen anything like before. It's 1995, has Monticello on the reverse, and... well, appears to be copper. Could anyone give me some information about this? Even just to be educated, it's pretty interesting looking. Thanks in advance! Looking forward to any replies.  Edited to add pictures! Edited by shopunke
11/02/2007 11:24 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
827 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
936 Posts |
If it is a nickel struck on a cent planchet than it is not worthless at all!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1031 Posts |
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New Member
 United States
5 Posts |
Pictures added!
And sorry, but I have no idea what this means. ):
If it is a nickel struck on a cent planchet than it is not worthless at all!
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New Member
United States
5 Posts |
Also, in case the picture doesn't do it justice... It has the same color and shine as a newer-beat-up penny... If that makes any sense!
Can you tell I have no idea what I am doing? ;)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1031 Posts |
Is it the same size as a nickel or the same size as a penny?
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New Member
United States
5 Posts |
It's the same size as a nickel. Identical in every way, it seems, besides the color.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
827 Posts |
maybe annealed? but it looks to me like it was sitting in some tera cotta tiles and that stuff is tough to get out of anything.
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New Member
United States
5 Posts |
maybe annealed? but it looks to me like it was sitting in some tera cotta tiles and that stuff is tough to get out of anything.Might as well be speaking Japanese to me! Haha 
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1031 Posts |
If it was struck on a cent planchet it would be the same size as a penny (cent). I'm not sure what you have. I guess the question is, did they have some nickel planchets made out of copper? Otherwise all I can think of is that the nickel was discolored in some way.
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Moderator
 Australia
16806 Posts |
American 5 cent coins are made of a copper-nickel alloy. It's fairly common for some kind of chemical process to chemically alter the surface of the coin, making it look "coppery". A nickel buried in damp, humic soil for several years can come out of the ground looking brownish, as the metal detectorists on this forum can well attest.
There are also some acids and other chemicals that preferentially attack the nickel and leave the copper alone, turning the coin a kind of pinkish colour. I think chlorinated pool water can have a similar effect.
Either way, your hunch is correct - it's likely to be classed as "post-mint damage", and not a valuable mint error.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1031 Posts |
By the way, welcome to the forum shopunke! We all learn when someone asks a question. I was thinking planchet size and didn't even think about alloy content. Sap, thanks for pointing us in the right direction.
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Replies: 12 / Views: 10,148 |
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Posted 11/02/2007 11:15 pm
