Error Planchet | 1980D weighs 2.7 grams

[cimperialis]

Howdy,

I was going through a roll and when I dropped this coin in the reject pile, I heard an unusually high-pitched ping. I grabbed the coin and immediately it felt light weight for a copper planchet. I weighed it and sure enough it was 2.7 grams. I then weighed another 1980D just to be sure, and the normal coin was 3.1 grams. I've never found a light coin like this. Was it minted on a wrong planchet? A defective planchet? What kind of premium is associated with these? If you've got a must-read link, that would be appreciated. Thanks!

Sean

[RWBILLER]

Wow - I don't know about that one - just maybe it was a planchet that was rolled thin or punched from a rolled thin piece of metal. I have seen that before. I can't wait what others have to say!
Rog

[cimperialis]

After searching through other threads, it looks like this is a planchet that was rolled thin. Mike Diamond says they are fairly common, but I'm not sure how common that is.

I still ask, is there any reading out there on these? And what sort of premium is associated?

[RWBILLER]

Do a search on goggle for "Lincoln cent rolled thi planchet"
Rog

[SuddenAdoration]

there are some coins on ebay that I found with the key words rolled thin planchet....

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l2736&_nkw=rolled+thin+planchet

and completed listings

http://www.ebay.com/csc/i.html?LH_Complete=1&_kw=thin&_kw=planchet&_dmpt=Coins_US_Individual

[liveandievarieties]

That's pretty cool Sean, I know exactly what you mean when you say you heard the *tink*!

I have a dozen or so that I've saved, not common by any means, a dozen out of an immense amount of coins. Liking statistics as you do, I'd say they're one in many, many thousands.

Usually, rolled thin planchets will have considerable weakness or be unevenly thin on one side, but I do have several that show no weakness yet are considerably underweight (I believe up to 10% variance is considered "normal").

I also don't know how to establish them as anything other than what they obviously are- underweight. Hmmm- a few weeks back didn't someone say they had access to spectral analysis tools- wasn't it Wendell? Don't recall, but I think this would be the next step to determining it's composition. Might be worth a try, or maybe a waste of time.

I may have given you more questions than answers, but know that your coin isn't common.

[pman860507]

Thats a REALLY cool find Sean. Another thing i knew nothing about till right now!

[mustbebob]

Is there any evidence of a taper of the coin? Thin planchets aren't really common, nor are they rare. I have a couple wheaties with the weight in the 2.4 gram range, but they do show a taper, which does account for some of the weight disparity..

[cimperialis]

I don't think there is any tapering of the rim (i.e. thinner on one side). It appears the weight is evenly distributed across the planchet.

Later I will post pictures of different sides of the rim, with a side-by-side comparison to a normal cent.

[wapa]

Neat find. Now I gotta start dropping each coin to listen for the tink.

[jcuve]

I'm not sure where the line is drawn between interesting and collectible. I believe anything below 2g starts to impact the strike and would begin to be collectible. I would of course keep it nonetheless.

[mikediamond]

As others have said, this cent was struck on a planchet punched out of rolled-thin stock. Such errors can be as light as 1.4 grams.

[cimperialis]

Hi Mike, can you provide any info on the value of such a coin? I've searched ebay and other places and haven't found any good comparisons. The closest thing I came across was a thin wheat that weighed 2.7 grams, and it was being sold for about $50.

[mikediamond]

Because the coin is only 0.4 grams underweight, its value is probably no more than $5. Even severely underweight examples seldom sell for more than $25. For whatever reason, this error type is not in high demand.

[liveandievarieties]

For whatever reason, this error type is not in high demand.

Interesting, I've found the same thing when attempting to sell considerably underweight planchets (not tapered planchets). Curious that something so scarce isn't highly coveted.