Big Boys Hobbies

Silver penny?

Th3 Offspring

Th3 Offspring

Full Member
Joined
May 26, 2009
Messages
218
Location
Upstate NY
got this back in change today.....same size and thickness as a reg. penny. Doesn't look to be coated by a silver metal, or have a copper tone to it. in person, it looks silver like any nickel dime or quarter.


0617091730.jpg


0617091730a.jpg
 
Can be???

It can be a couple of things. First, it may have never received it's thin copper coating at the mint and was struck with the zinc portion only. Second, the copper portion may have been stripped off of it with some reverse electrolysis. But if you were real lucky, someone in the mint stamped out some penny planchets from nickle or clad material (highly unlikely). So that's my two cents worth. HH
 
I think Z is right on this one. Looks like some kids were having fun in chemistry class! I remember making gold pennies in high school chemistry class.
 
I had a friend whose father used to chrome plate pennies when I was a kid and I thought that was super cool! :cool:
 
Y'know, I'm not sure what it is but I think I would put it in a safe place just in case it is one of those mint mistakes. Steve
 
Th3 Offspring said:
one more quick question.... Is it poisonous if it was coated in mercury?:shock::?:
Click to expand...

Yes, ALL forms of mercury are poisonous. But tiny amounts are seen as "harmless" by some, but a major health hazard by others. I personally lean towards the harmless end to the extent that I, and hundreds of millions of other people, have grown up with amalgam fillings without any identifiable problems.

And here's another little trick similar to the penny that I used to do as a kid that's probably a lot more "dangerous" by current standards: When I was a kid, my father brought home about a pint of mercury from work one day. Now this is back in the 50s, and our silver money was, well, silver! He showed me that you could dip a silver coin into the mercury, and the mercury would stick to the silver. Moreover, you could smear that little bit around to cover the whole coin giving it a wet looking, extremely bright and even silverier silver color than the actual silver! ;-)

Only for a little while, though. As the mercury leached the silver in the coin, it would soon turn the dull grey color of amalgam.

Now cavalier as I may be about some of the crap I've pulled over the years, there's one thing you DON'T want to do with mercury, and that's to heat it. Mercury vapor in small amounts is both deadly and fast, and there are more than a few gold prospectors in the afterlife who could attest to that fact if they could. :D
 
I have a 1999 Penny Like That Not sure where I got it But It could be a mistake even though that video shows how to do it
 
Just came across this post. LightningJack: Your silver penny isn't in the same class as the other shown. First off, yours is a solid copper penny made before the changed over to zinc in 1982. I noticed what appears to be light sanding marks on the face but they don't appear to be on the lettering or Lincolns face. I would suggest maybe having a coin expert look at yours or take it to a coin shop to see what they think.

Don't sell it thou, if it is from some metal other then copper it could be worth some nice money.
 
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