Arthur 0

[Arthur Does]

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[Arthur Does]

Bear with me as I get the hang of this. I recently found a 1973 lincoln cent that looks nothing like copper. In fact it looks a bit like a dull dime. It's not a 43 that I'm getting mixed up. What do I got here. All the details are identical with the copper cent I have the side by side. The vbd is there, the fg on reverse, and able is inside the memorial. It's not a counterfeit. That would illogical. Is it a chemistry experiment or is one of those early 1973/74 aluminium zinc alloy things

[Greenstang]

It's possible that it is a mercury or nickel coat cent. There have been several showing up on the coin sites lately. Can you post pictures and give an accurate weight, this will help in identifying what you have.

[Arthur Does]

therapy. Replied by email. In case you didnt get that I will give you the detail I have up to date. It weighed out to 2 penny weights at a jewlers. I hope the pictures were clear enough. Now I ned to convert that to grams which after being out of school for decades I'm gonna let this do

[Arthur Does]

Hopefully the pictures came thru I'm gonna do it again

[Conder101]

2 pennyweight is 3.11 grams, exactly what a cent should weigh.  What you have is almost certainly a regular cent that some one has plated after it left the mint.  Platings tend to be thin enough that they do not interfere with details, or change the weight enough to put them outside of the mint tolerance range. We see plated cents all the time.  Plating cents used to be a very common high school chemistry experiment.  Most everyone that starts working for a firm that does metal plating can't seem to resist plating some coins.  If you check out Youtube you will find videos showing how to do it.  It isn't hard or expensive, so a lot of people do it.  Much to the regret of people on coin forums.

Edited December 19, 2019 by Conder101