Wrong Planchet 1942 Wheat Penny 0

[BeginnerCollector]

I am very new to coin collecting. I work at Walmart, and I've started looking for wheat pennies as I drop the tills at night. I stumbled across a 1942 wheat penny, but it doesn't look like any other 1940's pennies I've seen. 

I did a little research, and I found on the NGC website where someone had found a 1942/43 wheat penny that had been printed on the planchet used for the Netherlands 25 cent coins. They look very similar, but again, I'm brand new at all of this. 

I don't really want to waste the money sending in this penny if it's just an off colored penny. Any insight or comments are welcome. 

Thank you in advance.

 

Edited January 19, 2020 by BeginnerCollector

[BeginnerCollector]

[Mathpark1981]

Hello, first I would need to tell you that I am no expert at all in fact although I have been collecting coins most of my life I dont do much in pennies. Anyway, if I may ask what do you see that makes it look different? Maybe I missing something?

Edited January 20, 2020 by Mathpark1981
I missed a picture that changes my thoughts

[Mathpark1981]

Ok so I just saw the pictures of the other pennies beside the 41 and 44 and my thoughts are that it may look different because of the environmental factors that the coin was exposed to. I am also not knowledgeable on what metals the particular years compose of. But that may be a factor also. If you wanted my opinion it looks like a common 1942 penny. Happy hunting

[Greenstang]

To me it just looks like a cent that has environmental damage. Copper can turn to almost any colour depending on the atmosphere it has been exposed to including being buried in the ground.

[Kirt]

Well...it's not a 25 cent planchet for Netherlands coins; they were silver, not bronze. The 1942/43 "Netherlands" cents were bronze and were struck in Philadelphia so such a mixup is at least theoretically possible. The easiest way to tell is to get a really accurate scale (accurate to .1 grams). The US planchets were 3.11g; the Netherlands planchets were 2.5g. If your weight is at that 2.5g it's probably worth having a real expert look at it. However, the color looks to be in the range of normal environmental toning; I think that's more likely. Good luck.

[Coinbuf]

Wheat cents come in all shades of red to brown including dark brick red, however its my guess that this cent was painted with paint or nail polish or something.  Notice that the rim is mostly a more normal brassy red color and the dark red comes over the lip in in some parts and looks chipped away, I've included a pic to highlight what I'm seeing.