Hey everybody, it's been a little while since I've been on here, but tonight while going through some rolls of pennies, about halfway through the second roll I found this rather "peculiar" penny. It seems as if the edges of it are that of a nickel! The center of the edges are the color of a penny, while the outside edges of the penny are un fact- nickel color. I did a side by side comparison to another penny & find that the edges were nearly double thickness. I also did a side by side to a nickel, & found the edges to match in thickness. Is this a rare find? Please help! I'll post the one pic I have, & follow up with hopefully more & better picks. Thanks
In this pic, The coin in the middle is the penny in question. If you look close enough, you can see the different colors of nickel on the outside edges & a thin line of copper color in the middle. The pic shows a normal penny on one side & a normal nickel on the other. Any h elp will be greatly appreciated, as always!
It is possible that it is a Proof coin. The edges of Proof cents are fully-struck with squared-off corners.
Any value? The sides of the edges are identical to that of a nickel. I hope you can tell me that its worth enough to retire early! Lol
If it is an impaired (circulated) Proof cent it is worth a few cents. Not nearly enough to retire on. Does it have a mintmark?
There's no mint mark. Hopefully in this pic, you'll be able to see the abnormal features of Abe's body as well. I'm no coin expert- not by a long shot-, but my gut instinct tells me I have an exceedingly rare find here. I hope my gut's right. It doesn't fail me when it tells me its time to eat!
I can't tell much from your photos. One thing appears to be certain - it is not a Proof coin. I am thinking it may be a dryer coin. (Do a search on CoinTalk for "dryer coin" and you will see what I mean.)
Thanks. However, I'm stuck on it having the edges of a nickel. It just looks too much like it. I know my pictures don't so it justice, I'll have to figure out a way to take more clear, close-ups. Thanks for all your help, & I deff will look up dryer coin!
I looked up "dryer coin", & from the examples I saw, & descriptions, this is deff not one! It is in fact a penny/nickel. For now I'll just call it my "pickle" coin.
We know that it is impossible for a cent to be struck on a nickel planchet because the nickel planchet won't fit into the coining chamber, and a cent planchet does not contain any nickel in the alloy mix. It's possible that the roll from which the blanks were made was a little too thick, maybe at one end of the roll or the other, but I think your gut instinct is just an upset stomach. Take some Maalox. J/K! Chris
Well, I'll still add it to my coffee jar of wheat pennies & "abnormal" coins, & keep treasure hunting! Hopefully my next post will be something intriguing! Until then, thanks for all the help, & I have some pepto on standby.
I can't read the date on your coin, but it looks like it's later than 1983. Your cent is copper plated zinc. The edge looks like nickel, but it is only that the copper plating has worn off, exposing the zinc core. Dryer coin! Maalox!
Is it possible that the coin was struck so hard that it smashed the image in further than it was supposed to go and forced the extra metal to the edge? The dryer coins i saw looked all melted, the best pic doesn't look like it was melted, but it's hard to see.
The 2000 is just a thin copper shell over a zinc core. In the dryer as the shape of the edge/rim is altered to the thickness of a nickel, the zinc can be exposed, giving a silvery color. I agree with the dryer theory. One way to tell ( but it would damage the coin) is to add a drop of acetic acid ( vinegar ) to the silvery edge. If it is zinc, bubbling occurs ( hydrogen gas is released). If it is really nickel, nothing will happen. Jim
