Alloy error or chemical damage? 1933 cent

[SuddenAdoration]

Good evening

I was going through some of my older wheat cents and this one is uncirculated and has been in a book ever since I bought it.
The pattern does remind me of the wood grain looking cents , however I haven't ever seen one like this. So I was wondering if maybe this is in fact an alloy error or something due to chemicals or both. I did try and lightly rub it in one area with a q-tip and nothing comes off. The reverse is much worse than the obverse.

Any shared wisdom is greatly appreciated as always

Thank you!

[kloccwork419]

That's a nice woody..Very bold..

[jfines69]

To me it appears to be a cleaned woody... In a woody the metal was not mixed properly and left the zinc and copper in somewhat separated state... Over time the zinc would pic up dirt and oils causing it to darken and leaving the wood grain appearance... I did some cleaning testing a few years ago with some woodies and the appearance is very similar to your coin!!!

[SuddenAdoration]

To me it appears to be a cleaned woody... In a woody the metal was not mixed properly and left the zinc and copper in somewhat separated state... Over time the zinc would pic up dirt and oils causing it to darken and leaving the wood grain appearance... I did some cleaning testing a few years ago with some woodies and the appearance is very similar to your coin!!!

Ah thank you! What did you use to clean it that gave it this appearance?

The other day I was testing lavender essential oil on a gross MD cent... and it actually cleaned up pretty well and it smells good now too! haha there are still a few spots that I could have cleaned up better. Next time I am going to try vegetable glycerin to test.

[jfines69]

Cool looking MD... The best thing to use for removing gunk from Lincolns is acetone... Not nail polish remover but acetone... I have had to let coins soak up to 72 hours but those where a stack stuck together with what smelled like bubble gum then rolled a qtip across the coin to remove loose debri... Found a 2013P DDO 003 in the middle of the stack... As for the woodies I tested I used Wrights copper cream to remove everything just don't use that on good coins!!!