1999 Deleware State Quarter Experimental Planchet??

[N-6560]

I have a Deleware quarter that does not look like a normal quarter. It is a pewtery greenish color so I think it might be an experimental planchet. I weighed the quarter and it is about the same weight of other quarters. Is there any way to tell for sure? Any suggestions??

[MintErrors]

Beside the weight, there are machines specifically made to find out the composition of coins. I am pretty sure the 3rd party grading services have one of them.

The problem here is that this particular coin appears circulated. Now, if this coin could speak and tell us what it has been through, this would no longer be a mystery.

I am sure Coin World, CONECA or other coin related websites would have had an article on experimental planchets. The only one that I know of ( without paying this topic much attention) was the Sacagawea Experimental Anti-Tarnishing Agent.

Check out this article.
https://www.coinworld.com/news/preci...20metal%20flow.

Most discolorations are "post mint" damage or alterations meaning, these things happened to a coin after it has left the mint. There are hundreds of things this coin could have went through, and most of them are going to be Post mint damage (PMD).

The big clue here is, if it was a different composition or layering of metal. If you compare the layers of the suspect quarter and look at the others, make sure they layers are about equal in size. Do a light drop test on the suspect quarter, paying close attention on how it sounds. Take a known good quarter, preferably of the same year and do the same. See if the "ring" when it is dropped is close to the same.

My guess is it is simply discoloration. As Jason C. will probably state, It's not the color that matters, it's the weight.

Others will chime in here, give it time.

[N-6560]

Thank you for that information. I dropped the quarter along with a similar one, and it sounded the same. Between the weight and the ring, I think you are probably right....Post Mint Damage. I really appreciate your feedback!

[jcuve]

I agree, some sort of environmental factor altered the color.