Copper Dime..Need Info!

I have recently found what MAY be a copper dime?? i thought it might just be some rust, or a tarnished dime, but the thing that gets me is when i drop it on something solid, it sounds COMPLETELY different than any other dime i drop. It sounds lower in pitch. Can anyone give me some input?

hope my pics can help

 

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That's interesting. You might want to weigh it to see if there is really a difference.

 

where can I do that, and what should I look for?
thanks

 

doesnt look copper to me .. dirty, corroded, dipped in acid??

you got alot of these types of coins [Tempest]

 

okay...not corroded b/c the details are immaculate. possibly rust? but why does it sound so different? and doesn't copper start to corrode to green after a long time....just like this dime?? is it even possible that it was struck on a 1 cent planchet?
thank you if anyone can tell me

yeah, i save all my coins that look different in appearance...but forget it. i'll just take it to some dealer and hope he tells me what has happened to these coins.
unless you recommend I spend it...

 

there are definitely copper dimes out there

average weight of a normal dime is: 2.268g

a dealer might be your best bet IMO

 

Spend it? Never lol, if you thought they were interesting enough to save them, then why spend them? part of collecting is keeping things that interest you even if they are worthless!!! one option is to take them to a dealer.. but a better option is to look into what really happened to the coins you have -- this will better prepare you for the next 'off' coin you come across....

 

So do you consider 2.5g US silver dimes (1873-1964) as "abnormal"?

The Red Book gives 2.7g as the weight of US clad coins from 1965-present.

BTW, your Canadian dimes (including provincials) were always lighter than their US contemporaries: 2.36g before 1919, 2.32g or 2.33g from 1919-68, 2.07g from 1969-93, and 1.75g since 1994 according to the Charlton Standard Catalog of Canadian Coins.

 

The normal weight for a clad dime is 2.27 grams. There are no authenticated normal diameter, full weight, solid copper or copper-alloy dimes. Those that I have examined were plated, struck counterfeits, stained, or "copper wash". Only the latter constitute genuine errors and they're not worth very much.

Your coin looks stained, and slightly corroded. The absence of mint luster is consistent with this interpretation.

 

I understand that it might not be authentic, and i think it IS slightly eroding , BUT why does it sound so different when dropped?

Should I put it in come kind of cleaner? Or is it best to find a place to weight it first? I cant seem to find a scale of that precision.

 

The ring test or drop test is not that diagnostic. It varies from coin to coin. Drop a large sample of war nickels and you'll see what I mean. They range from dull thud to bell-like tone.

Never clean a coin. Just take it to a coin shop and have them weigh it. They'll have a gram scale.

 

I have seen many like that, the coin is not rusted, but from being next to a rusting material, or has surfae coating, and or surface quality only.

 

If there's none near you try a jewelry store.

 

Twiggs:
Technically, there can only be 'copper' dimes out there if the coin had been struck on a planchet that did not receive the bonding of the clad layers.
It could not be struck on a cent planchet, since the planchet is larger than a dime planchet, and could not be sent thru the dies.
Look at any listing of off metal coins and they can only be off metal on smaller planchets.
Sure, there is one instance of dime sheets being used to punch put quarter planchets, but no cent planchets punches (to my knowledge).

 

its corroded

 

i know, but i DID find something else that looks like a copper dime. i know, i know. but this time, to be for sure, i put it in some vinegar, and it got even redder. maybe a bad idea, but i didnt want to post pics w/o really thinking i had something.

 

Please post a picture...The previous dime you posted l;ooks like many that have been buried and then recovered by a metal detectorist.

That's often how they look when they come out of the soil.

Also, a Cent planchet does not fit in a dime press, so it is almost impossible to have a dime struck on a copper planchet intended for a cent.

 

so how are there copper dimes?
i'll post a pic soon. but thats the thing. the old dime i put in with the new one, and the old one lost all the corrosion and became silver again. this new one didn't. its almost red.

 

Thats the point. There are no copper dimes.

On occasion a dime is struck missing the outer layer of the clad part of the dime so you will have what looks like nickel color on one side and copper color on the other.

 

I've seen one 1969-D dime struck on a copper core. There are a handful of dimes struck on foreign copper planchets. That's about it.