1974 lincoln cent under weight

[Error Nut]

In my search of circulated lincoln cents I have come across a
1974 p lincoln cent that is underweight. The weight is 2.7277 grams. Does anyone have any information that could lead me in the right direction to finding out more about this.

[Dick]

Does it feel "oily"?

It might be a possible aluminum cent.
DON'T toss it just yet!

[Error Nut]

What drew my attention to the cent was the sound when i dumped out the bag on the table to look thru. Has more of a sound of a lighter alloy. Doesnt appear to be oily.

[eagames]

Is it thin and sort of orange peeled on the surface and clings when you drop it?

It might be acid treated, a school science class victim.

[Gabe]

Eagames... what difference would it make if it acid treated? These are made of 95% copper, and there is no aluminum on the inside of the coin to expose.

[Error Nut]

The coin measures .750 dia. and .060 thickness these measurements were done with dial calipers.It is fully struck and appears to be in au condition. I would post pictures but i do not know how to do that yet. Thanks.

[Dick]

There were some aluminum cents made in '74,,and were possibly intended to be put into circulation, if memory serves me, and for some reason, the decision was made to melt them. There was some problem with the economy at that time, I believe. so it possibly could he a "Pattern", that "escaped", somehow.
Chuck? Ed, Coop, Mike D.?

[smed]

It could be struck on a foreign planchet. An aluminum coin the size of a US cent wouldn't weigh more than a gram.

Not much anyway -- nowhere near 2.7g.

[coop]

[coop]

[eagames]

[coppercoins]

You people should stop suggesting it's aluminum...the ones who are playing on that idea.

Pretty much all of the aluminum cents are accounted for. You have a better chance of being snowed in on the fourth of July in New Orleans TWICE than you have of finding an aluminum cent. Really...

I'm actually a little embarassed that someone comes on with an underweight coin, no images, and right off the bat people start suggesting THE MOST unlikely cause.

Ed stated the most likely cause - acid treated.

To the original poster of this thread - You will need to provide images of some sort to us before we can be of useful help. There are far too many causes of underweight coins for us to be able to give you a certain cause without being able to at least see the coin. Sorry.

[wavysteps2003]

Chuck is right. The Lincoln cent struck on aluminum is rarer than a copper 1943-D Lincoln cent. One other cause for an under weight coin is a split before strike planchet or it could be struck on a foreign planchet. However, both are a rare occurrence and I feel that we may be dealing with an acid treated coin. Without a picture or the coin in hand, it is foolish to assume what the coin is.

BJ Neff

[Error Nut]

During the minting of the 1974 cents, was the mint stamping foreign coins? Also if the planchet was split before striking then would the thickness measure under .060 or not? I was reading in David Lange's book on the lincoln cent and there was suggestion of three compositions tested in 1973 one being aluminum, and another being .700 copper and .300 zinc. The other having two outer layers of .900 copper and .100 zinc bonded to inner core of low carbon steel. There was an example that surfaced in 1994 of the bronze clad steel cent and it weighed 2.77 grams. Is there a weight stated anywhere of the test example of the .700 copper .300 zinc? These are all just thoughts not suggesting it could be. Broadening the horizon of knowledge. Im still trying to figure out how to post pics. If anyone would like to see the pics I will gladly email them.

[coop]

We still need an image before we start reaching for the moon. If they look like this:
[img]http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/Acid_dipped_Coins.jpg
[/img]
They the can be spent. Without images though we are just totally in the dark.