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1982 D Steel Penny
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30 posts in this topic

9 hours ago, Bobby Wardrip said:

It looks just like the 1943 steel pennies except for the fact it's not a wheat penny. If anyone can give me any information about it, such as value/rarity. Is this an error? I'd greatly appreciate it.

All I can say is it appears to have the same magnetic properties as my 1943 steel pennies. I didn't want to damage any of the coins using a strong magnet.

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Lots and lots of Lincoln cents were plated, as novelties or high school experiments. Your images aren't crisp enough, but I think I see some copper color leaking through along the bottom obverse rim. Regardless, since a 1982 steel cent is completely unknown, it's hard for me to conclude anything except plated. A precise weight I guess would give more info to go on.

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5 hours ago, Bobby Wardrip said:

I.cutler, it is definitely not a plated coin...it's been in circulation and under a microscope there are no signs of such. 

I know nothing about metallurgy. What are the signs that an object has been plated?

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If it had been in circulation, and it were steel, I'd think we'd see something less impressive than that brilliant shine. Historically, steel coinage has rusted up pretty rapidly. Looking at the second, slightly fuzzy set of pics, look to me very much like plating.

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4 hours ago, JKK said:

If it had been in circulation, and it were steel, I'd think we'd see something less impressive than that brilliant shine. Historically, steel coinage has rusted up pretty rapidly. Looking at the second, slightly fuzzy set of pics, look to me very much like plating.

Could be, but I would think that being in circulation and having dings etc you’d be able to see the copper in spots under it, as well as on the edges...under a microscope I see none of these. Is there any way to tell for certain?

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2 hours ago, Bobby Wardrip said:

Could be, but I would think that being in circulation and having dings etc you’d be able to see the copper in spots under it, as well as on the edges...under a microscope I see none of these. Is there any way to tell for certain?

I've seen some platings thicker than others. Some grotesquely thick, more so than what I perceive here. Here are the realities:

The odds are astronomical that a steel planchet made it into the 1982 minting process, even granting that it was a transition year for metals. It's like if someone said that an alien beamed in right in front of them. Sure, it's theoretically possible, but it's in the vanishing unlikelihood category.

The odds are excellent that someone plated the coin as a science or hobby experiment. Unlike real steel 1982 pennies (and for that matter alien beam-ins), we know of many, many examples of these. So probability is your primary obstacle.

The two coinage metals I know of that respond to a magnet are iron and nickel. The nickel in a 5c coin isn't enough, I don't think, to pull to a magnet. A 1943 penny definitely has enough iron. Crappy counterfeit Chinese 7 mace/2 candareen pieces usually have enough.

I scrolled up to see what the weight had told you and was astonished that you have not posted its weight. This is essential and can no longer be overlooked. In grams, please; one decimal place is fine.

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3 hours ago, JKK said:

I've seen some platings thicker than others. Some grotesquely thick, more so than what I perceive here. Here are the realities:

The odds are astronomical that a steel planchet made it into the 1982 minting process, even granting that it was a transition year for metals. It's like if someone said that an alien beamed in right in front of them. Sure, it's theoretically possible, but it's in the vanishing unlikelihood category.

The odds are excellent that someone plated the coin as a science or hobby experiment. Unlike real steel 1982 pennies (and for that matter alien beam-ins), we know of many, many examples of these. So probability is your primary obstacle.

The two coinage metals I know of that respond to a magnet are iron and nickel. The nickel in a 5c coin isn't enough, I don't think, to pull to a magnet. A 1943 penny definitely has enough iron. Crappy counterfeit Chinese 7 mace/2 candareen pieces usually have enough.

I scrolled up to see what the weight had told you and was astonished that you have not posted its weight. This is essential and can no longer be overlooked. In grams, please; one decimal place is fine.

It’ll be a couple days because I don’t have a scale, but I’ll get some weight measurements and post as soon as I can. Thanks. 

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That is outside the tolerance for steel or zinc cents, but is within the weight range for a copper alloy cent. I believe it is a normal cent that has been plated with nickel or some other metal that is attracted to a magnet.

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On 12/20/2019 at 5:08 PM, Bobby Wardrip said:

Could be, but I would think that being in circulation and having dings etc you’d be able to see the copper in spots under i

Not if it was plated AFTER it was circulated and received those dings.

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One thing to think about is how much force an extra hardened die would need to make a nice crisp strike on steel.

If it were a steel planchet I would expect the strike quality to be a bit mushy...as the die is not designed for steel.

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Yes, yes, yes. I have a "steel" or "silver" 1955 cent too. It's plated. just like everyone else's. Doing this plating is obscenely easy and they are all over the place out there.

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During the minting process when the planchets are coated with that ever so thin layer of copper errors sometimes occur. The zinc core is sometimes missing a portion or even all of the copper coating. If you find a cent that has no copper coating at all it is worth around $100. An example missing 50% of the copper plating is worth around $20 to $25. A specimen that is missing about 10% of the coating will be worth around $10.

http://www.coincollectorguide.com/valuable-copper-pennies-and-zinc-errors/

Edited by Paul Coppola
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14 minutes ago, Paul Coppola said:

During the minting process when the planchets are coated with that ever so thin layer of copper errors sometimes occur. The zinc core is sometimes missing a portion or even all of the copper coating. If you find a cent that has no copper coating at all it is worth around $100. An example missing 50% of the copper plating is worth around $20 to $25. A specimen that is missing about 10% of the coating will be worth around $10.

http://www.coincollectorguide.com/valuable-copper-pennies-and-zinc-errors/

That is not what happened here.

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3 hours ago, Coinbuf said:

Because I can see in the photos that the coin is plated, not difficult at all to see.

+1. These pictures of the OP's coin qualify for "This is what a plated cent looks like."

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