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 Replies: 11 / Views: 830 |
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Valued Member
United States
184 Posts |
I do not know much about Indian Head pennies. Just strange to see the "lamination" coming off. PCGS shows this as 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc. Looks VG-08/VG-10   Edited by NJcoppers
02/24/2024 11:22 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
25363 Posts |
It looks like it was plated at one time and then someone removed most of it by polishing the coin.
Inordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
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Valued Member
 United States
184 Posts |
Thank you. Wasn't the original minted color: copper, like any penny? The color below the top layer (top layer looks authentic copper color as one would expect) looks like the 1943 steel/aluminum penny.
Edited by NJcoppers
02/24/2024 11:33 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11896 Posts |
This appears to be a counterfeit Indian cent in a base metal plated in copper. 1892 Indian cents were made of bronze, a 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc alloy. The metal would not look like the copper plated zinc cents of today. IN NECESSARIIS UNITAS - IN DUBIIS LIBERTAS - IN OMNIBUS CARITAS THE MAN IN THE ARENA, Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne Paris on April 23, 1910: " It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." My coin website: https://fairfaxcoins.com |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
I agree with plated or painted. I think the silver is on top of the copper, not the other way around. It's rubbed off the high points but remains in the crevices.
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Valued Member
United States
184 Posts |
It's 19mm and weighs 3.01 grams, vs the 3.11 grams it should weigh. Under high magnification, it does look like a silver colored base metal that is coated with a copper color enamel that imitates a proof color.
On closer look from an angle, the head is not that worn where the LIBERTY is gone...it just does not seem to have had any LIBERTY in the first place.
Edited by NJcoppers
02/25/2024 02:06 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
25363 Posts |
Quote:
It's 19mm and weighs 3.01 grams, vs the 3.11 grams it should weigh. I just weighed 10 IHCs with wear approximating the one show. Mean = 3.02 g +/- 0.06 g SD (max = 3.13 g, min 2.82 g). Your coin is not greatly underweight for its condition. If it were made of white metal or something else it would be far lighter. And as kbbpll pointed out, the silver color is on low points and in recesses. If it were a copper-plated base metal counterfeit, the silver color would be on the high points where the copper has worn off. Inordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
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Moderator
United States
34423 Posts |
I agree that the silver solder/paint/coating has been applied to the surface of the coin. You have a genuine, although damaged cent here.
"If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1498 Posts |
It used to be a thing to rub mercury on coins to make them shine, but that was more common on silver coins. Sometimes, coins were colored to make them appear more valuable — famous example was the 1883 "no cents" V nickel, plated gold to fool merchants into believing it was a $5 gold piece. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
36800 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
184 Posts |
I think I may have found the source of the blasphemous silver Indian Head penny...on ebay. Do not know, if allowed to link, but here is a snapshot. What helped me is that you folks have helped me focus in on from the wear...that it was coated with silver and not the other way around. Of course, cannot tell for sure if this is the source of bad taste silver pennies, but it seems a plausible explanation. Looks like they coated worn pennies with a proof like copper-colored enamel and then silver-colored coated them.  Edited by NJcoppers
02/25/2024 7:42 pm
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Replies: 11 / Views: 830 |
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Posted 02/24/2024 11:11 pm
