Very Shiny 1956 Lincoln Penny?

Last night while looking through some old Whitman coin albums I discovered a 1956 penny (no mint mark) that's very shiny and appears to be made from a metal that isn't copper. It's shiny and silver in color. I don't have a magnet handy to test for steel.

I don't see a 1956 no mint mark penny that is steel listed in the Red Book.

No pictures, my camera isn't working.

 

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My guess is that the coin was coated with mercury, maybe in high school shop or chemistry class. If it has a mercury coating, it will weigh slightly more than a regular penny of that date.

 

Would the mercury rub off? last night I removed it from the album and examined it then put it back in the album. Didn't notice any residue on my fingers.

I might be able to check the weight w/ a friend's digital scale.

 

I have a couple of mercury-coated Canadian cents. The mercury on those coins did not rub off on my fingers. The color is a kind of silvery bluish-gray.

 

i thought mercury is toxic?

 

Mercury can be toxic if ingested.

Anyway, here is a YouTube video on how to mercury-coat pennies:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjkR3ojEfg0

 

Would a coin that someone made look gold also weigh more? I have a 1981 penny that is very shiny and gold in color. Have seen the science experiment where you can turn pennies gold but have held on to it anyway.

 

The increase in weight from plating, whether with silver, gold, mercury, nickel, zinc etc will be so slight as to not be noticeable unless you weighed the same coin before it was plated. The increase will be much less than the mint weight tolerance.

 

When my brother and I were kids we used to break open thermometers containing mercury then put all the mercury together into the largest ball possible (probably a 1/4" - 5/8" or so) then play with it for hours.
I can my hear mom - "Anybody know where the thermometers are? "I just bought new ones last week."

Will try to take some pictures but macro mode is no longer working on my camera.

 

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1262456/make_a_gold_penny/

This Weblink describes how to make a silver-colored US cent and a gold-colored US cent. Mercury is not used in this experiment.

 

Each of the two regular 1987 Canadian cents in this picture weighs 2.5 grams, which is standard weight of a 1987 Canadian cent. Each of the two coated cents in this picture weighs approximately 2.65 grams. If this additional weight is not the result of coating but rather the result of an off metal strike, I would love to hear about it, because then these heavier cents might be worth something.

 

The coin is definitely coated. I see where the coating has worn off part of the rim.
The video about coin coating is very cool I might try it w/ the kids.

 

You're going to coat your kids in mercury !!!!!!! JK Anyways a cool conversation piece.

 

The video demonstrates how to coat coins with, I believe, non toxic substances.
I wouldn't expose the kids to mercury.

Mercury? as kids we played with it a lot. And we played with toy soldiers made from lead.
One of my buddies was fond of eating lead paint chips. Didn't wear safety helmets when riding bikes.
As far as I can remember we all survived.

 

The liquid mercury has very poor absorption into the body through the skin or ingestion. The more concerning exposure is to mercury vapor such as from heating mercury compounds ( certain types of gold processing). the majority of mercury vapor is from coal burning energy plants and volcanoes, so stay away from them. Organomercury compounds such as methyl and ethyl mercury make their way up food chains such as fish, but also in some cases, other meat, They are more easily absorbed into the body. Also some feel that mercury in dental fillings are a potential for toxicity effects, but I will chance it rather than having mine drilled out and replaced.

Rolling mercury in your palm is not recommended by far, but little effects would be expected if done only a few times in your life time. But I saw a DVD at my gold club meeting where they were using mercury to pick up the little granules and then heating it to drive off the mercury The author of it ( commercial DVD) said to be careful and bend away from the fumes !!
IMO only in case you decide to do anything mentioned.
Jim

 

Good points. There have been arguments about the danger of amalgam dental fillings containing mercury for years. Especially when drilling (vapor) them out. Not to mention the patients swallowing small pieces of the fillings. On the National Geographic channel I watched a video of unauthorized South American gold miners collecting gold by burning off the mercury. They're destroying the rain forests, polluting themselves, the streams and air with mercury.

Some years ago the Bush administration wanted to establish a mercury market where polluters could buy/sell credits that would enable them to mercury pollute as much as they want, just buy the credits.

 

Maybe the memory is the first to go?

Kidding. We used to do the same things. Remember the first time you got an electric shock from sticking a finger in a lamp socket?
Lance.

 

I don't know what the Canadian mint has for a weight tolerance on their cents, ours is .1 grams. Typically a two ten thousandths inch thick plating will weigh about .05 grams and that is a fairly heavy plating. A .15 Gram increase would be a darn thick plating (real overkill) but even so the coins are probably either still within or just slightly out of tolerance. So weight still can't tell you if it is plated or not.

 

I have about 50 1987 Canadian cents and none of them that I have weighed so far weighs in excess of 2.53 grams. So I think that 2.65 grams is well above the weight tolerance for those coins.

 

In 1956 there was a mint error where some pennies were struck on a silver dime planchet. One sold for over $600 See: http://www.davidlawrence.com/invent...nm/Lincoln-Cents/gnm/Small-Cents/lotid/972736