Canadian 25 cent...

daggit · Senior Member

Got this in change a long time ago, posted it on another forum and no answers as to cause. Anyone got ideas? the reeded edge is the same dull color.

Dick · Expert Member

Daggit, I would say that it had "lost" part of the lamination, as in many of our quarters in the states series. I have several with the sam chacteristics, ie "looks like some of the plating came off, or never was in place".
Dick

daggit · Senior Member

Thanks Dick, It's a very well defined line between shiney and dull. At first I thought it had been dipped in something (experiment) but noticed the reeded edge has the same dull look all the way around. The other side is dulled but not as bad.

Gabe · Senior Member

Interesting coin. Could the dull area of the coin just have tonned differently than the shinney part of the coin?

Robert · Senior Member

My first guess was that it looked like it had been dipped in something. But the longer I look at it, the more I think the plating has peeled off.

According to this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_(Canadian_coin)) the composition is 94% steel and the remainder is copper-nickel plating. I could imagine a scenario in which the steel planchet is not completely cleaned and prepared for the plating process, resulting in degraded plating adherence. However, this would imply that the rest of the coins in the same plating batch could also have poor plating. If more of these coins start showing up, that would be strong evidence of a process problem at the mint.

After the coin was plated with a possibly marginal plating job, the coin was then struck as normal. The forces involved in the striking process may have caused the plating to peel off the coin or perhaps to severely weaken the bond so that it could be peeled away by someone's fingers. Or possibly a tear/bubble appeared in the plating. I could see someone picking at the flawed plating causing what we see here.

Note how the design on the "steel" part of the coin is rather sharp. I think that had it been dipped in a solution strong enough to attack the nickel plating it would have reacted with the steel as well, resulting in a "mushy" appearance of the coin. I don't think this is the case with this particular coin.

So to make a long story short, I don't think it was dipped. I think the plating was peeled off somehow, possibly due to dirt/contamination at the mint.

I could be wrong...

Dick · Expert Member

That is precise;y what I think has happened. Whether it was lost in the hanfling, or some "picky" fingers got to it will never be known. I checked it under high magiification, and the general surface appears to be normal, considering, the loss, (lack) of the plating.
Dick

coop · Expert Member

Is the reverse normal or looking like the obverse? If is it the same I would guess dipped. If normal and just obverse is affected it could have had the plating removed. Or, it could be glue added to the coin? Elmers? But having the coin in hand will tell you the answers to my question. Looks different from anything I've seen.

daggit · Senior Member

The other side has some luster but is dull in comparison to other 2004's I have, but also like I said the reeded edge is the same likeness as the dulled surface even along the area that is normal. Strange enough anyway...has me stumped.