Interesting Coin | Truly unplated cent?

[simonm]

Hi all,

Saw this one on the 'bay and just wanted your opinion on it. Seller claims it is an unplated cent. The pictures provided don't really do it justice and there are 7 bids on it already. Can anyone confirm if it is an authentic specimen, or is it just the result of a science experiment?

Thanks,

SS

[jcuve]

I cannot tell from the photos. Not encouraging that the weight is not mentioned. When they are genuine, they are $150-200. I think they'd sell higher if there were not so many fakes. They are as rare, or rarer than, a cent struck on a dime planchet.

If the seller could email a larger jpeg - one would look for normal plating issues (that would indicate it was plated with zinc over the copper) or a pitted or damaged surface where the copper was somehow stripped.

[DSallee]

I think I would stay away from this one! Bad images but from what I can see, it looks like there is some chemical smoothing and pitting to the zinc... like someone used chemical etching solution like what you use to make your own circuit boards with.

Dave

[flyhi3]

I would stay away from that, to much risk of a fake IMO...

like someone used chemical etching solution like what you use to make your own circuit boards with.

Dave

You can also acid date buffalo nickels with that stuff.... pretty powerful.

[Maineman750]

I would never buy one that is raw unless I had it in hand, they are just so tough to attribute by pictures.