Error Plating | Brass plated 1983?

[admrose]

The one on the left. Apologies for the picture quality but mr. Sun isn't cooperating today. Regular 1983 on right for comparison.

[papascoins]

Yes, 1983 had many, many 'brass' plated cents. It happened because of the plating solution, that the planchets got dipped in, became polluted with zinc planchets that fell into the solution, which contaminated the mix, thus producing the color you see. In other words, the zinc that was added transformed the copper plating to more of a 'brass' color.

Here is a letter from the Mint written to Ken Potter in 1985 about the explanation: http://koinpro.tripod.com/VarietiesUS/MintLetter.jpg

[Maineman750]

1983 is a very common year for these...I have quite a few set aside,but I'm just not sure why.It only takes a tiny amount of zinc to change the color,so it's really not considered a huge error.