"Silver" 1983 Lincoln cent

[Guest]

Dear friends smarter than I,

I recently came across what at first glance I thought was a steel penny. Upon closer inspection, I found it to be a 1983 Lincoln Memorial that has a "silver" coloration. I was wondering if anyone has seen others that are colored this way or could provide me with an explanation of why it looks this way? Thank you in advance for any assistance or information.

I took some of the pictures next to a normal looking cooper penny just to show the difference in coloration.


Rob

[enamel7]

I'm afraid you have a coin that has been plated after it left the mint. Try putting it to a magnet and see if it still sticks.

[Petespockets55]

Definitely looks plated.
But well struck with lots of detail. A pity for sure.
(I participated in a metal detecting hunt a month ago and they used 4,500 Lincolns painted silver, over red, over blue, over yellow, etc. as tokens/targets.)

[jfines69]

Cool looking... Looks like some one has plated it with zinc... Some of the copper plating is showing thru on both sides... There also appears to be gas bubbles present that have formed beneath the original copper plating and the zinc core!!!

[makecents]

Very neat looking though!