Several Recent Finds

murphy · Senior Member

My finds aren't as exotic or rare as Bob P's, hehe, but I would like to show them and ask about one or two of them.
Here's my Bugger Nose Lincoln with the strike thru of the nose. Is this a machined error? (as opposed to a die error):

Here's a 1962D cent with what looks like a chain impression below Lincoln's bow tie! Is this a strike thru, die clash, mint mark error or what?

Here's another unplated cent (I think - weight=2.5G's) found recently. What would it be worth on eBay in this condition?

coop · Expert Member

The First image looks a little buggered up... LOL Maybe a gas bubble under the plating? Or a die gouge. Kind of humerous though. Probably be a hit on Ebay.... You can sell any junk there, just hard to get real money for something that is really valuable.
The 62-D Chain? I've never seen anything like that. The coin has had some ruff handing by the date and rim. It could be dent from when the coin got damaged or it could be an interesting die crack.
The zinc Cent...... Is the dark brown areas copper or rust? I would probably soak it in mineral oil for a long while to see of the corrosion will budge. Not sure what you clean Zinc with, but you could always drop the coin into and acid and watch it desolve like an Alka Seltzer. But my choice would be to try the mineral oil to see what happens. Usually zinc Cents tend to disolve when it hits the air, like when you see where the mintmark is stretched leaving Zinc exposed and a hole develops the the coin starts to deteriate. Maybe someone else has another solution? It would bring a better price if it was all silver looking, but sometimes you get what you have....

coop · Expert Member

Is the 84 a double ear? Razz

Made you look!! Laughing

The one on my avitar is..................................

Bob P · Site Admin

Something to keep in mind is that the weight of 2.5g is correct for the 1984 cent. It definitely seems like an unplated cent, but in that condition, probably doesn't warrant too much of a premium. The strike through under the nose is pretty funny. Somebody get him a hanky! I too am intrigued by your 'chain' cent markings. It is possible that it may be a dropped letter???

Anyway Murph...it doesn't matter what you find. We are always interested here. I am going to post a pic of a 1984D Pimple Cent below. These are all fun to find and show off...whether they have value or not.

Now that he's got the hanky...we need to get Abe some Clearasil Laughing

coppercoins · Site Admin

The "chain" appearance is caused by heavy blunt hits on the coin that raised the metal around the hits - like a crater. It's damage.

The 1984 cent - hard to tell whether those are genuine or acid eaten - I've never figured that one out, but then again, never really cared to be frank.

coop · Expert Member

Looks like meteors attack for, defenseless Abe..... Rolling Eyes

Probably be the best thing for that BU (BUTT UGLY) Cent

murphy · Senior Member

Bob, who shot the die with a shotgun?! lol
Moonface.
The 1962D chain thing is just as it looks...raised area in the shape of a chain. Could someone have dropped their necklace in the works?
The unplated cent in my opinion is authentic, but it doesn't seem to have the characteristics of zinc. (EDIT: Actually, the rim is badly pitted.) If it was solder, it would weigh more. I have another unplated cent (1995D) similar to this, but the reverse on it is badly pitted, which leads me to believe this coin is something other than pure zinc...aluminum maybe? Laughing

I'll take Coop's advice and soak it for a while in mineral oil to work on that green stuff. And if it's paint, which I doubt, maybe the mineral oil will work on it too.

And Coop, no it's not a double ear. Confused

coop · Expert Member

Don't know how aluminum would have appeared in the coin planchets as nothing was being struck with aluminum at that time. 74 they did have aluminum. Also the weight would be a lot lighter if it were aluminum. Also it would not rust as your coins appears to have done. Does zinc rust? Idea

murphy · Senior Member

Coop, you're not seeing rust, I think that's copper. And where you see the green stuff is probably where the copper is so thin that it tarnishes more easily? It's not 100% unplated!

coop · Expert Member

Be interesting to put it into a 2X2 ans see what happens over the years. See if it just melts or what. I had a Lincoln cent that had a hole below the mintmark that kept growning, but somewhere I've misplaced it. 8( Wanted to watch it krumple into a copper plated piece to tin foil.

GarryN · Expert Member

The '83 DDR and '84 DDO usually exhibit the little lumps all over them. Thats why I have never been much interested in them. I am afraid they may eventually turn out like the one above.

murphy · Senior Member

Yeah Garry, I've noticed that too. It must be the early years of zinc/copper plating that's responsible for the "blemishes". They started using the thin copper plating in '82 and as the mint people have become more experienced, they seem to have taken steps to improve planchet quality and coin longevity.

Coop, I'd be interested in knowing about any experiments of tarnishing on unplated cents. I put mine in a mineral oil bath for maybe as long as a few months. I'm not very experienced in mineral oil bathing techniques. After that it's going in a SaFlip to see if it plus the oil bath will stop the corrosion process.

coop · Expert Member

Best to try any new process on regular change. Carbon spots can't be helped. I see some grease smeared on some Cents that looks like vaseline, but I'm guessing clear grease that has dried to a soft jell that a manual removal like a toothpick or a fresh thorn Dried ones tend to scratch surfaces) to clean out under the scope. I've found coins I brushed with a very soft toothbrush (Children's used ones work great, but wash out throughly) dipped in mineral oil, but I only use that on CIRCULATED COINS that I want to clean up. It usually takes several times of oil & brushing, but the dirt/grease/goo/whatever comes off, again I repeat on CIRCULTED COINS only. Sometime you want to see whats under that grease spot on a coin. But again try it on a common circulated coin first to make sure you have the techinique down. I have a brush, always soaking ready for my use near my scope. For uncirculated cents, I wouldn't try it as it leaves tiny scratches that can be seen under a scope. Turns a BU coin into an AU coin with one cleaning. A circulated dark cent already HAS had its' day. I usually dry the coin with a facial tissue (Plain not the ones with aloe on them) to push onto the coin to remove excess oil. I've seen a 2X2 with a greasy coin in it that I didn'y get dry enough. Hope this helps.