Nickel Of A Different Color

Earle-that was my first thought too...where's Ugly when you need him? I'm sure the Canada crowd will chime in soon.

Well there's two options, It's a nickel on a copper planchet, either our penny or a foreign planchet or it's a nickel on a nickel planchet that was a subject of an improperly formed alloy (many reasons for this).

If it were a bad alloy it would need to be a pretty brutal case of stratification to be this brown I think. So I'm leaning to a copper planchet at the moment with hesitation because there's a lot of gleam in that photo.

Can we get a weight and diameter as well as large pictures?

Very interesting specimen either way.

The copper colored coin weighs in at 4.65 gms plus or minus .01 of a gram. The 1994 nickel beside it weighs 4.67gms. I can't find my calipers but will try and pick up a set tomorrow. Thanks for the comment so far.

I have zapped quite a few of these 'brown copper-like' nickels under the XRF at work, all dating post-1982. Those nickels were supposed to be 25% Ni and 75% Cu. Anything over 80% Cu will be coppery-coloured, and I have zapped coins in excess of 86% Cu. Given that the planchet size is almost exactly the same, and the weight is really close (off a bit probably due to slight difference due to specific gravity), I suspect it is an alloy problem, probably when the ingot was poured/cooled, probably prior to rolling. The size difference appears minimal, the coin was struck in collar, look at the denticles.

I would love to put your coin under the XRF uncle al... the analysis would tell me in about 30 seconds if it was a improper Cu-Ni planchet or a Cu foreign planchet.

What is the XRF? I have no idea. The book calls for 4.63 gms, and I dug out a similar year nickel and it weighed in at 4.63 gms. Today, the copper nickel weighs in at exactly 4.63 gms. I rechecked the scale with the measuring weight that came with the machine. I would like to send it to you for analysis, but not sure how to do it. Please let me know how best to do this. thanks.

Basically, in layman's terms, XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence) is a non-destructive X-ray analysis. The x-ray beam penetrates the coin a few microns, which is great for getting past oxidation or lacquer, and gives you a compositional analysis of the coin. I use it at work for all kinds of stuff, and have access to the machine on weekends to zap coins. The model I use is the Innov-X Benchtop x-5000, see: http://www.olympus-ims.com/en/xrf-x...-xrf/x-5000/

The best way to send it would be to email me, and I'll give you my mailing address. Then send the coin registered mail or Xpresspost (tracking, with signature). Your coin is safe in my hands, there are several long term members on this forum that can speak to my credibility. I have done this for more than a few numismatic colleagues. Once the XRF analysis is complete, I would send the coin back to you.

Sure wish I had a XRF, but the next best thing is having an offer from SPP to zap your coin. Don't miss out on that one, he has done some of my steel nickels which we suspected of different plating results. Suspicions were correct and I have a MS coin with no plating to brag about. Raw steel strikes up very shiney, but is very vulnerable to oxidation.