Magnetic 1941 penny - wrong size & shiny?

[Jack-the-Lad]

Hello everyone,

Thanks in advance for your patience with a noobie.

I've recently acquired a few coins and i'm going through just in case there is something special, and in general the answer to that question is no.  However...

There is at least one odd 1941 penny amongst half a dozen ordinary ones.  

- It is shiny, as-in silver toned

- It is slighlty magnetic on either side (a magnet picks it up fairly easily, but nowhere as easily as the same magnet picks up some '43 steel pennies).  It is less magnetic on its edge.

- It is 0.04mm smaller in diameter (18.98mm vs 19.02mm as best I can measure)

- It is thicker at 1.46mm vs 1.36mm  

- I don't have a scale sensitive enough to weigh it

Can anyone shed any light on what I might have, please?

Thanks in advance,

Alex

[Just Bob]

It sounds like your cent might have been plated with nickel, which is attracted to a magnet when pure. That might account for the increased thickness. The reduced diameter could be from wear, or from having been in some sort of collar, like a jewelry mount. As to why someone would plate a 1941 Lincoln cent - your guess is as good as mine.

[Mohawk]

5 hours ago, Just Bob said:

It sounds like your cent might have been plated with nickel, which is attracted to a magnet when pure. That might account for the increased thickness. The reduced diameter could be from wear, or from having been in some sort of collar, like a jewelry mount. As to why someone would plate a 1941 Lincoln cent - your guess is as good as mine.

Hey Bob,

Maybe I can provide some insight as to why the OP has a plated 1941 Lincoln Cent.  They often plate cents in chemistry classes.  We did it in my 11th grade chemistry class, though we were plating them with zinc rather than nickel.  It was pretty cool, and everyone got to do two or three coins.  You got a shiny, silver cent when it was done.  I'm betting that the OP's coin is one of those from a chemistry class.

[Just Bob]

44 minutes ago, Mohawk said:

Hey Bob,

Maybe I can provide some insight as to why the OP has a plated 1941 Lincoln Cent.  They often plate cents in chemistry classes.  We did it in my 11th grade chemistry class, though we were plating them with zinc rather than nickel.  It was pretty cool, and everyone got to do two or three coins.  You got a shiny, silver cent when it was done.  I'm betting that the OP's coin is one of those from a chemistry class.

Sounds plausible.

[Conder101]

8 hours ago, Just Bob said:

As to why someone would plate a 1941 Lincoln cent - your guess is as good as mine.

Also there are a lot of places that do metal plating commercially, and you will find that just about every time someone new is hired the new guy just has to experiment with plating things and coins are a very commonly used item.

[Jack-the-Lad]

All or any of the above would make perfect sense.

 

Thank you.