• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Nice silver penny

4 posts in this topic

It is vanishingly unlikely you have a 1959D silver penny. It is somewhat likelier that I will be abducted by aliens tonight from our coin club meeting. I hate to tell you where they might search me for trade dollars.

What you have is probably a plated coin, done as a science project or just for amusement. It was already minted, which in case you are not aware, is the term for creating it in the first place (not plating it). It is unlikely to be worth more than one cent, unless you run across a buyer who is very interested in offbeat coins yet lacks any knowledge of what actually exists. If you meant getting it graded and encapsulated, you can certainly send it in, but I would only recommend that if $60 is a trivial sum to you.

Feel free to post actual pictures, obverse and reverse, if you would like to confirm this diagnosis.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, JKK said:

It is vanishingly unlikely you have a 1959D silver penny. It is somewhat likelier that I will be abducted by aliens tonight from our coin club meeting. I hate to tell you where they might search me for trade dollars.

What you have is probably a plated coin, done as a science project or just for amusement. It was already minted, which in case you are not aware, is the term for creating it in the first place (not plating it). It is unlikely to be worth more than one cent, unless you run across a buyer who is very interested in offbeat coins yet lacks any knowledge of what actually exists. If you meant getting it graded and encapsulated, you can certainly send it in, but I would only recommend that if $60 is a trivial sum to you.

Feel free to post actual pictures, obverse and reverse, if you would like to confirm this diagnosis.

Jonathan couldn't have said it any better.  I'm certain your coin is plated myself.  Plated cents are very common.  Cents are often plated with zinc, nickel or another white metal in high school and college undergrad chemistry classes.  I did it myself in my 11th grade chemistry class.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only way a 59 D cent would be silver would be if it was struck on a silver dime planchet.  Weight would be the first thing to check.  If it weighs close to 3.1 grams it is a plated cent.  If it weighs close to 2.5 grams then you may have something.

Link to comment
Share on other sites