1974P Nickel that is copper color

[VAB2013]

Found this today at work and since I don't know anything about nickels, well here it is

Do you think the only logical explanation is copper plated? The color is consistent, even on the rim, it's not shiny, the obverse is dirty (have not soaked it in acetone yet) What do you guys think?

[ERRORCENTS]

Well Viv it appears to me as being a dipped coin, I only say this because if it was struck on a copper planchet it would be smaller in size. Let see what everyone else thinks.

Patrick

[Petespockets55]

I'm with Patrick.
It has all of it's details and rims. No weakness of strike indicating a smaller planchet.
Is the weight the same as a Jefferson? And non-magnetic?

[GrumpyEd]

In the center of the rev, is that nickel color showing through on the pillars?

If it is, that would tell you it's some sort of plating or something on it.

There are nickels on cent blanks, you could tell if it is or is not by weight, also most are missing part of the design due to smaller size.

Nickels aren't clad (like quarters, dimes, halves) so no chance of missing clad layers like those have.

[makecents]

Neat find Viv!! Here is a link with a thread that will explain. A lot of newbs like me and a few trying to explain. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/cop....175899/page-3

[GrumpyEd]

Yea, dug nickels turn copper color. If you give em a solid whack it flakes off.

[VAB2013]

Thank you all so much for looking and helping! Sorry it took me awhile to get back, working in the heat today just about zapped me!

It weighs 4.9 grams, it's larger than a cent and there's no silver color showing through. The only thing I could find on the internet earlier was the information Jon posted, and an article in Coin World magazine about test nickels which I could not read but here's the link

https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2014/01/mint-testing-copper-plated-zinc-for-5-coin.all.html

and I saw some mint set Jefferson's still in the cello where some were toned and looked darker than normal.

This nickel was in my cash drawer today and I pulled it out of the mound of nickels thinking it was a cent.

Here are a few more pics. I'm leaning more toward it being toned, it is consistently the same shade of copper all over.

[GrumpyEd]

Viv, in that article it says they made copper plated zinc test pieces but they weighed 4.06g.

I think it's toning. The dug ones get a coating that's thick enough to flake off. I only noticed that when I had dug and bent ones and gave em a whack to straighten and the coating flaked which was interesting because it does not flake at all until you whack em. But yours looks like a less thick coating so it's either an early stage of what happened to dug ones or toning from something it was exposed to.

[GrumpyEd]

One other thought, I've never done it but I wonder if you get them hot like toss one on a cookie sheet at 500 and see what the color does. These are copper nickel so they might do something weird.
If you do that with a shiny copper cent they turn purple.

[VAB2013]

Viv, in that article it says they made copper plated zinc test pieces but they weighed 4.06g.

I think it's toning. The dug ones get a coating that's thick enough to flake off. I only noticed that when I had dug and bent ones and gave em a whack to straighten and the coating flaked which was interesting because it does not flake at all until you whack em. But yours looks like a less thick coating so it's either an early stage of what happened to dug ones or toning from something it was exposed to.

Thank you so much for looking at the Coin World article Ed! Not being able to read that was bugging me!

I agree with you on the toning. That's kind of funny about the whack, but I think you are right, if I whacked this one it seems like it would just make a dent and not flake off

[VAB2013]

One other thought, I've never done it but I wonder if you get them hot like toss one on a cookie sheet at 500 and see what the color does. These are copper nickel so they might do something weird.
If you do that with a shiny copper cent they turn purple.

I bet ya the nickel would do the same thing. Why is it that a nickel is silver in color when the composition is 75% copper and 25% nickel, and it's not clad?

[GrumpyEd]

I bet ya the nickel would do the same thing. Why is it that a nickel is silver in color when the composition is 75% copper and 25% nickel, and it's not clad?

They are cupronickel/copper/nickel/CN not really nickel.

They do not say why but they say "Despite its high copper content, cupronickel is silver in colour"

Link

[Petespockets55]

I hate to suggest abrading the edge with sand paper or dental pick to see what color is under the surface, but you might try this in an inconspicuous place on the edge. I don't think a toothpick would get through the surface.

[GrumpyEd]

I hate to suggest abrading the edge with sand paper or dental pick to see what color is under the surface, but you might try this in an inconspicuous place on the edge. I don't think a toothpick would get through the surface.

I'd probably do that.

It's a choice, either keep it as a mystery coin, spend it as it is, test it and then you know it's safe to spend or if by a miracle it turned out to not be silver in the scrape then at least you verified it and it's only a rim scrape..

[jfines69]

Cool looking... I wonder if someone was trying to give it a golden color??? The weight is fine... 5 grams is was the is called for https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/31/5112