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    Forum Ambassador VAB2013's Avatar
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    1974P Nickel that is copper color

    Found this today at work and since I don't know anything about nickels, well here it is

    Do you think the only logical explanation is copper plated? The color is consistent, even on the rim, it's not shiny, the obverse is dirty (have not soaked it in acetone yet) What do you guys think?
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    Well Viv it appears to me as being a dipped coin, I only say this because if it was struck on a copper planchet it would be smaller in size. Let see what everyone else thinks.

    Patrick
    Patrick G.

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    Paid Member Petespockets55's Avatar
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    I'm with Patrick.
    It has all of it's details and rims. No weakness of strike indicating a smaller planchet.
    Is the weight the same as a Jefferson? And non-magnetic?

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    Registered User GrumpyEd's Avatar
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    In the center of the rev, is that nickel color showing through on the pillars?

    If it is, that would tell you it's some sort of plating or something on it.

    There are nickels on cent blanks, you could tell if it is or is not by weight, also most are missing part of the design due to smaller size.

    Nickels aren't clad (like quarters, dimes, halves) so no chance of missing clad layers like those have.

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    Paid Member makecents's Avatar
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    Neat find Viv!! Here is a link with a thread that will explain. A lot of newbs like me and a few trying to explain. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/cop....175899/page-3

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    Registered User GrumpyEd's Avatar
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    Yea, dug nickels turn copper color. If you give em a solid whack it flakes off.

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    Forum Ambassador VAB2013's Avatar
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    Thank you all so much for looking and helping! Sorry it took me awhile to get back, working in the heat today just about zapped me!

    It weighs 4.9 grams, it's larger than a cent and there's no silver color showing through. The only thing I could find on the internet earlier was the information Jon posted, and an article in Coin World magazine about test nickels which I could not read but here's the link
    https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-co...-coin.all.html

    and I saw some mint set Jefferson's still in the cello where some were toned and looked darker than normal.

    This nickel was in my cash drawer today and I pulled it out of the mound of nickels thinking it was a cent.

    Here are a few more pics. I'm leaning more toward it being toned, it is consistently the same shade of copper all over.
    Attached Images Attached Images

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    Registered User GrumpyEd's Avatar
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    One other thought, I've never done it but I wonder if you get them hot like toss one on a cookie sheet at 500 and see what the color does. These are copper nickel so they might do something weird.
    If you do that with a shiny copper cent they turn purple.

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    Forum Ambassador VAB2013's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GrumpyEd View Post
    One other thought, I've never done it but I wonder if you get them hot like toss one on a cookie sheet at 500 and see what the color does. These are copper nickel so they might do something weird.
    If you do that with a shiny copper cent they turn purple.
    I bet ya the nickel would do the same thing. Why is it that a nickel is silver in color when the composition is 75% copper and 25% nickel, and it's not clad?

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    Registered User GrumpyEd's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by VAB2013 View Post
    I bet ya the nickel would do the same thing. Why is it that a nickel is silver in color when the composition is 75% copper and 25% nickel, and it's not clad?
    They are cupronickel/copper/nickel/CN not really nickel.

    They do not say why but they say "Despite its high copper content, cupronickel is silver in colour"

    Link

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