us large cent not made of copper

[keystone82]

 

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[bad Chad]

I thought all large cents where copper. That is so cool. Hope someone could help explain.

 

[Argentium]

Ok , I'll bite - what do you believe it's made of ? pewter , lead ?

 

[Jyverb64]

I found one in the spring that was made from pewter

 

[keystone82]

not sure normally they come up as a quarter on my machine this came up as a screwcap and its lighter

 

[Evolution]

Most likely pewter... I found a pewter counterfeit half dollar this year and it rang up as a 50 vdi... a half dollar would have been around 90....

 

[bad Chad]

Did you find it at that old cellar hole

 

[keystone82]

y yes yes I did

 

[jewelerguy]

cool!

 

[BuckleBoy]

If that was a period counterfeit, then that is a better find than a genuine LC!

Congrats,

Buck

 

[The Rebel]

That's really wild.

 

[keystone82]

your right buckleboy,if evolution is right and it's counterfeit,then it's a GREAT find

 

[rickn1]

Maybe I just don"t get it but why would anyone counterfeit a 1 c. piece, kinda like counterfeiting a 5 c. today. Maybe labor was a lot cheaper in those days or some guys were really bored. Like this " OK, OK, Guys, I got an idea for a good one !!! Lets just make up a few of these things, bury them about the country, and drive everybody nuts in about 100 years or so."

 

[Rick (Nova Scotia)]

It looks copper, as far as a little bit lower ID# (screw cap not much difference) could have a lot to do with the brown crust on it.
This same discussion has come up a few times, once quite recently. I took two identical copper coins, one not dug, and the other a dug coin with an even green patina all over it. The one with the green (crust) coating was a full 10 ID points lower, again same coin / weight / diameter.

In the field I've dug up coppers anywhere from ID#s from low 60s to low 90s

I had to go back a month of threads to find this. from this post,
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/today-s-finds/369488-1788-counterfeit-nj-copper.html

Originally Posted by Iron Patch
Said it before, and can always prove it anytime I want to, but the numbers on a detector will not tell the story. I have a coin that I thought had to be counterfeit because it was dark in color and rings in like a small tombac button. The conductive number should be a 28 on this particular coin, and it rings in at 8! I finally got curious enough to do a scratch test and low and behold the thing is copper and a genuine coin. Have never seen another ring in so low, but don't have to because that's enough proof you can't say a coin is counterfeit just because it rings in a bit lower.

A tap test would tell you more. Balance the coin on your thumb and grab another coin which you know is copper. You then strike down on the edge and it should ring like a bell. If it clunks, it's probably cast."

MY REPLY



I couldn't agree more about ID numbers, and here's why, when I first started finding old coppers I was very puzzled why old, larger, heavier copper coins were often a lower ID number than a new, much smaller, lighter copper coin. My theory is that as the copper decomposes, and gets it's green (or other) coating it must change it's conductivity.

There are definitely chemical changes going on, the green stuff is mainly CuCO3, and whether or not this proves my theory, or anything for that matter this is interesting. I took two coins, one not dug, and one dug with an even green coating on it, both same size, and composition, the detector IDed them at 82, and 72 respectively. The ONLY varible was the green coating on the second coin. Next I took an ohm meter and checked them across their width, as expected the clean coin had zero (for practical purposes) resistance, the green coin I could not even get a connection on while pressing the leads hard. So there is definitely less conductivity. I'm sure, (but haven't tested/tried) different types of coatings would give even wider ID ranges. I think personally, I've found coppers from high 80s to low 60s.

Anyone with a detector, a couple of coins, and a 12 dollar multi tester can verify all this. It don't count if after you found the coin you clean all that stuff off.