I cant find this Penny anywhere on the Internet

[Fade2black]

I can't find this Penny anywhere on the Internet

Father in Law recently passed away, and he collected a few coins. Nothing huge I can retire on, but he does have some fun items. But after about 4 hours of googling and binging and googling and binging coins and coins and coins, I found 1 coin I can't find. And it's starting to excite me just a hair.

It's a 1969 S Lincoln Penny, but it appears to be steel (unlikely), or Aluminum (more likely). The only info I was able to find was that these were "test" metals and extremely rare. But I don't want to go off shouting I won the lottery, because more than likely it's worth 1 cent. Anyone able to help me with this please?

I apologize for the subpar quality of the pics...Iphone don't like closeups too much, although I did use imaging software through an app to at least get it to zoom in a bit tighter. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Edit: The pic doesn't do it justice, but that is in fact, an "S", and not a "D".

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

How to Research for Treasure Hunting and Metal Detecting From Lead Generation to Vetting - Grab it through Amazon!

[HutSiteDigger]

1943 and 44 are the only dates i am aware of steel pennies like you say "unlikely". It may have been plated for use in jewelry or something similar. Hope others can weigh in! Good Luck !

 

[mick56]

First off, does it stick to a magnet?

 

[mical66]

i am no expert , but this penny looks like it was dipped in something , the reason i say this is the lack of definition on the front and the slag on the back, combined with the color , the color looks like a old zinc penny but the date is wrong , the 1969 pennies were made during the time they made pennies from 95% copper and 5% zinc. Penny (United States coin) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
the pictures i see of the 1969 s are copper colored and whats so special about the 1969s is the obverse double die stamping . Coin Collecting: 1969 s lincoln penny, lincoln pennies, mint mark

or
1969S Doubled Die Cent

again i am no expert but i think you got a cool penny there but not worth much .
cool story also coming from family

 

[Indian Steve]

It looks like it was dipped in mercury. steve

 

[Fade2black]

Yeah I figured it might have a coolness factor and not much else. Thanks for the help everyone .

Btw it does NOT stick to a magnet, for what it's worth.

 

[DCMatt]

Google this 'electroplating a copper penny with zinc'.

DCMatt

 

[cti4sw]

Www.lincolncentresource.com

Www.cointalk.com

One of these two should be able to definitively say what it is, but yes - it is likely dipped.

 

[cudamark]

Weigh it and compare that with a similar copper cent. If it's copper, I suspect the coin has been in a fire and then cleaned.

 

[xr7ator]

1943 and 44 are the only dates i am aware of steel pennies like you say "unlikely". It may have been plated for use in jewelry or something similar. Hope others can weigh in! Good Luck !

1943 is the only year they produced steel pennies unless therer are a few errors that got struck in 1944. I've never seen one and I have seen a 1913 v nickel and a 1965 silver quarter.

 

[unclemac]

check the weight....compare it to a similar era penny...aluminum will be a lot lighter than copper plated with zinc. in fact it will be so much lighter that it should be obvious in your hand.

 

[Montana Jim]

Google this 'electroplating a copper penny with zinc'.

DCMatt

Yup. We've seen a lot posted here over the last 6 or 7 years.

 

[cheese]

The way the details are smoothed out and the crud is on the back, I'd say someone heated this and coated it with plumbing solder.

 

[QUICKSILVER (appletree)]

I agree

i am no expert , but this penny looks like it was dipped in something , the reason i say this is the lack of definition on the front and the slag on the back, combined with the color , the color looks like a old zinc penny but the date is wrong , the 1969 pennies were made during the time they made pennies from 95% copper and 5% zinc. Penny (United States coin) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
the pictures i see of the 1969 s are copper colored and whats so special about the 1969s is the obverse double die stamping . Coin Collecting: 1969 s lincoln penny, lincoln pennies, mint mark

or
1969S Doubled Die Cent

again i am no expert but i think you got a cool penny there but not worth much .
cool story also coming from family

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

When I was in high school we'd leave cents in the photographic developer trays and they would be silver plated the next day.