1968 quarter, maybe 40% Silver ?

I have a brilliant 1968 quarter with silver edges, weighing 5.788 grams. Definitely too low for a standard 90% Silver quarter. I'll post pics of: obverse, reverse, & side: any comments are welcome.

 

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+1

 

I also say it looks plated.

 

Looks plated to me as well.

 

Looks plated +1

 

It would have to have been made from the half dollar material which would be
thicker and weigh more. Over 6 grams. And other 40% quarters would have been identified by now and none have.
A regular quarter weighs 5.67 assuming your scale is calibrated correctly, 1/10
of a gram is well within tolerance.

 

Well durn.... Your comment has my remaining memory cells working overtime...... Were the 40% halves not clad? For the life of me I cannot remember.

 

The 40% silver half dollars were clad pieces. They had obverse and reverse layers made of 80% silver and 20% copper and a core that was 80% copper and 20% silver.

Still the silver clad planchets for the Bicentennial Quarter were eight years in the offing. Unless somebody got on a time machine with one and brought it back to 1968 for coinage, there is no way that such a planchet would have been in the mint in 1968.

I need to revise that ... seven years ... the Bicentennial coins were first issued in 1975.

 

Yes I see. If the planchets had to be prepared then not even the 40% half dollar material could have been used to make this coin.
I was just thinking wrong stock. Don't post just after waking up in the AM.

 

TY all for your comments including pic references; I'll make sure any future pictures I post are better quality. I have a flat 2" by 4" advertiser magnet and this coin sticks to it, so definitely not silver. (This was the 1st test I performed based upon google search: lesson learned)

 

A magnetic should not stick to any genuine US Coin except the 1943 zinc coated steel cent; unless it was plated with a ferrous material.

 

Sticks to a magnet, nickel plated.

And the only way to make a 40% silver quarter in 1968 would be to punch quarter blanks from half dollar stock, and such a coin would weigh 9.13 grams.

 

Once it stuck to the magnet, became obvious was tampered with during circulation. What puzzles me me is the quality of the coverage: there's no copper bleed-through on the edges or wear spots. Why would someone go to all that trouble ? (Rhetorical question) Oh well, on to the next adventure.

 

The copper is there, it was covered up. So now you don't see it. If you can remove the outer layer, it will show through.

 

Welcome to CoinTalk.

It does beg the question, doesn't it . . . why bother?

I wonder if it was part of some promotional effort, and they plated the quarters to kick up their eye appeal? That's all I got.

 

They do it to this day for commercial reasons. You'll also find millions of coins the result of high school chemistry experiments.

if you go here .. you can find gold and other plated coins to your heart delight, or dismay https://www.merrickmint.com/24k-gold-plated-coins.html

you'll find many, many companies that plate US Coins and resell them. Then after the novelty wears off sooner or later some end up getting used as money, at face value. Then get circulated around and end up on a board like this where people think they found a rare gold plated US MINT coin.

They've gotten fancier over the years.
Nowadays you can find gold plated quarters with Holograms on them.
I'm waiting for one of those to show up here as some "rare" Mint error.

 

There was a thread not long ago where a fellow rescued a clad dime from a trophy of some sort. My guess is that the coin was placed on the trophy to date the trophy's event. At any rate, his dime was also plated. I would surmise the trophy maker plated the dime to better match his trophy's finish. I could see scenario's like this that would explain a plated clad coin.