1969 Penny. Reddish green toning. Worth anything? 1 1

[Edwardram]

I have a 1969 reddish green toned Penny. It’s flawless on both sides with no major or minor imperfections on the surfaces. Is it worth anything ? Or even getting graded?

[dprince1138]

I would say not, although, there is a die variety for a 1969 D penny, where the designer's initials (FG) to the right of the memorial foundation is missing.

As far as tone, the pristine tone is red, which is part of the grading consideration, e.g., red, red brown, brown.  The color green is a lowest tone.  These colors are due to the oxidation of copper over time.

[JKK]

On 11/19/2023 at 12:48 AM, dprince1138 said:

I would say not, although, there is a die variety for a 1969 D penny, where the designer's initials (FG) to the right of the memorial foundation is missing.

As far as tone, the pristine tone is red, which is part of the grading consideration, e.g., red, red brown, brown.  The color green is a lowest tone.  These colors are due to the oxidation of copper over time.

This is misleading information, Edwardram. This person has a bad habit of that, shows no signs of regret for misleading new collectors, doesn't seem to want to learn, and thus I wouldn't place any credibility in what he says.

The red toning of an uncirculated, untarnished copper or bronze coin is not the same red that you are seeing on your cent. Those are added designators to uncirculated Lincoln cents. That red color looks like freshly stripped copper wire, kind of a salmon pink, and the coin is graded something like "MS-65RD". Then it tones to part red and part brown (for example, MS-62RB), where you can still see some of the pink or at least it still looks half fresh. When that's all gone, the designator of brown shows up as "MS-64B" or whatever the main grade might be. That brown is a rich attractive chocolate brown, generally about the color of a Hershey bar. None of that is at all germane to your coin and it was imbecilic to introduce it to this conversation, which is why I expended time to demolish its relevance.

Your coin is in a different situation. It might be thought of as a variation of the "brown" designation except that the designations typically refer to uncirculated coins, which yours isn't. Yours is a normal 1969 cent with light wear and significant environmental toning which leads to a variety of shades from black to terra-cotta (yours leans that direction). Some will develop verdigris or in some cases, bronze disease. Verdigris is the bluish-green mess often seen on bronze or copper-nickel coins; yours has what might be spots of it on the obverse, 1200 (highly likely) and 400 (not as likely; could be something else). Bronze disease looks like a smurf sneezed on it, and is nasty to remove. I've done it, but the process is something most people would not care to undertake. So. While your penny would look nicer in a pleasant chocolate brown, and the reddish toning is indicative of something other than simple air exposure (not sure about sulfates or other forms from air pollution; not an actual chemist), it has zero relation to these discussions of red, red-brown, and brown. That dumpster is burning out of control.

[Sandon]

 Welcome to the NGC chat board.

  Your 1969 (not 1969-D) cent is a common coin with a mintage of over 1.1 billion pieces. It is sought by collectors only in original mint red uncirculated condition and even in such condition is worth no more than a few dollars except in the very highest "Gem" uncirculated grades, such as MS 67 RD, which even pieces taken from original rolls and mint sealed bags seldom receive. Your coin is brown from handling and has About Uncirculated details, with areas of discoloration or corrosion due to environmental exposure. It has no value to collectors.

On 11/19/2023 at 3:27 AM, Edwardram said:

Is it worth anything ? Or even getting graded?

    Contrary to an increasing but incorrect usage, to grade a coin is not synonymous with sending it to a third-party grading service!   Any coin you wish to collect should be graded--by you once you have the necessary skills. From my standpoint as a collector for over fifty years, to grade a coin means to examine the coin carefully and form my own opinion of its grade based upon my own knowledge of grading. Without such knowledge, one cannot form a reasonable opinion as to whether a coin is worth the substantial cost of third-party grading. Please refer to the print and online resources referred to in the following forum topics to begin you education regarding how to grade and otherwise evaluate coins.

 

   You should also attend such venues as coin shows and coin club meetings, where you can examine a variety of coins and speak with knowledgeable collectors and dealers.

 

[Coinbuf]

I'm sorry to say that what you have is known as a "spender", meaning that it has no collectable value to any knowledgeable collector.   It is also far from flawless as there is a deep gash on the reverse under the memorial as well as several spots around the obverse rim.   Some dealers will pay two or three cents each for quantities of common Lincoln memorial cents in poor condition like this due to the copper value.   Your coin shows signs of environmental damage and is lightly circulated, coin collecting is a personal journey and if you find coins like this "neat" by all means keep them.   But you would get better value if you lit your money on fire to stay warm vs sending coins like this to be graded.

Edited November 19, 2023 by Coinbuf

[powermad5000]

On 11/19/2023 at 2:27 AM, Edwardram said:

I have a 1969 reddish green toned Penny. It’s flawless on both sides with no major or minor imperfections on the surfaces.

First and foremost, please ignore anything said by dprince1138. This person has been posting incorrect and inaccurate information across all threads in this forum. He/she neither wants to participate constructively nor want to learn anything in here. Don't know how long it will take for the moderators to do something about it.

As for your opening statement, you really need to get yourself into some resources for learning how to self grade your coins. The cent in question is neither flawless nor is free from imperfections. It is lightly circulated and has environmental damage. For such a common cent, it is worth face value in this condition.

May I recommend at a minimum you obtain a current Redbook of US Coins, and also a book called ANA Grading Standards for US Coins. It is in its 7th edition although you can still obtain the 6th edition for about $12.