Steel 1970????

creilly · Veteran Member

Hello, I just got these 2 1970 pennies and the look like steel weight is 3.0 grams. Tell me what you think??????? I tossed in a regulare penny 1973D so you could see the color difference.
Don't yell at me but the one that is apparently lightly circulated, I scratched the edge with a pin to see if it was a coating and it is not!! One thing is for sure.. my pictures are blurry, sorry.

If they were steelies I would rate them as Unc and AU... I don't know what they are no traces of copper anywhere.

Bob P · Site Admin

Your pennies look as if they were plated in something or another. Of course, if they were steel, they would stick to a magnet. The weight is right for the date, so I would be willing to bet that somewhere under the plating is the copper.

creilly · Veteran Member

Hey thanks for magnet idea... no sticky to the magnet.. so I took my pin and totally dug into the edge of the circulated penny and after a THICK layer of I dont know what and I do mean thick I found copper.
Bummer.

eagames · Expert Member

There are real cents made on blank dimes but they would weigh 2.5g like a dime and are very rare.

People often plate coins with metal.

They also sometimes dip or coat them in mercury so be sure to wash your hands after touching them.

The statistics of them being a new discovery was minute because nobody ever found a steel memorial cent and you said one was circulated so for 2 to be in the same persons possesion is a statistical miracle because it would mean somebody found the only known 2 miraculus discovery coins of the same type in circulation. It's unlikely to happen.

You might read several posts here about making errors, there's a lot of junk out there that jokers try to sell as errors.

creilly · Veteran Member

They came in the penny rolls I got at the bank. So I only paid a penny. Ill put them in a 2x2 and mark as poss mercury coated and keep them as an oddity.

coop · Expert Member

Some weird stuff happens on after minting coinage.

So wierd stuff happens during the striking also.

I think this was struck at the mint, both times. Hard to tell exactly, but the letters are all going the right direction. Struck as a dime and then made its way into the Cent striking process. Seems like one mint worker kept us busy searching for his mules he made. They caught up with him, but the errors are there for the finding. Or they are there as quickly as someone thinks of them. Just have to know which is which.

creilly · Veteran Member

that 1909 is beautiful...... sad but beautiful

coop · Expert Member

Kind of makes the point, Bring back Lady LIBERTY and get rid of the dead Presidents series. Some of the most beutiful coinage/currency feature something with a lot style rather than the mundane coins with the side view of the bust. Its time for a change. I'm for it! Rolling Eyes

garylcsr · Veteran Member

I have seen the cent befor and i do like it. but what a waste of a nice 09 at least it wasnt an 09S
Gary

coppercoins · Site Admin

Coop - The 11 cent piece; the dime strike was after the cent, not the other way around. Plus, a number of these were made over the years and went undetected. What makes you think this one was intentional?

Dick · Expert Member

Coop, I gotta go with CD, on that one. I have seen it before, and as I recall, it was found in a cash register drawer, and exchanged for another coin, and taken "home. There it sat for quite a while before returning to mind, and then was checked by a dealer, who also bought the coin. This is more or less what i recall of that coin. Who knows, maybe that is where CD got it! Dick

coppercoins · Site Admin

No, I just looked at the design elements and logically put together which had to have been struck first. Takes a little understanding of the dynamics of making an impression then making a second and different impression and what they look like together.

coop · Expert Member

Chuck: I agree now looking at it. But it seems out of order to have a dime planchet end up in a Cent striking process, and then back to a dime striking process. That is totally to me out of the ordinary. I've have to check some other images of 11 Cents pieces and see if this is uncommon, or a nomal process. Just figured it was minted a dime and then re-struck with a Cent. But I believe your right. The profile of the bust must be more shallow on a dime? Interesting thought when looking at it in the correct way of thinking.