1944 lincoln penny 69.8% copper and 18.8% nickel

[Jay3434]

Hello my name is Jason, I am new to Coneca and have a very important coin to find out about. Its a 1944 no mint mark lincoln penny that I personally had laser material composition tested. The results are 69.8% copper and 18.8% nickel with the remaining 11.4% being miscellanious metals. I feel this may be a test coin before the actual run that year. The pictures attached show the coin feont and back and a comparison to a normal 1944 copper penny and a 1943 steel penny so you can see the difference. Please look at the photos and the test results and give me your feedback. The nickel makes it look like a polished coin. I feel this is a very rare one of a kind find, I have never seen anything like it before. Thank you for your help

[mustbebob]

It looks plated to me and as far as I know, there was no experimental alloys being tested in 1944. The composition tester may have examine that plating only to come up with the analysis, but I don't know. HOWEVER...since you have already taken the time to have the analysis done, then there is nothing more we can do here. You have done exactly what we would have recommended. Your next step would be to submit it to a third party grading service) like PCGS, ANACS, or NGC) for authentication. They would also do a test, but also scrutinize the appearance. Please understand that there may be substantial costs associated with it. Please visit their web sites for more information. I certainly hope you will keep us informed of their determination if you have this done.

[MintErrors]

One important element is missing from this.... the coin weight. The diameter in mm is nice, just to see if metal surpassed the collar size of the cent. There is a very small chance it might be struck on a foreign planchet, and researching that may take a day or two.

Bob is right... that color is way off. It may have been done recently, like in the past decade or so, since it does not appear to be too milky or like the metal contents are fighting each other. Plating can be hard to detect if the person who did it knows what they are doing. Some tell tale areas to look out for is buildup of plating material within small areas, like in "holes" of letters, like ABDGMNOPRW,among others. Typically the rim shows some tell tale signs on plated coins. The fine lines in the wheat stalks may be a place to check as well.

[Jay3434]

The weight is 3.11 grams if it were plated the weight would exceed this weight

[Jay3434]

Thank you for your helps guys, I will send this coin in for grading and let you know the results, because I think this is a rare coin but hey I could be wrong. We will see!!

[mustbebob]

Yes...please let us know what comes of it. I am pretty interested in what they say. You won't necessarily be sending it in for grading, but for verification/authentication. One other thing of note: Now that you mention the weight, that is further proof that this is unlikely a foreign planchet or a test coin as 3.11 grams is the exact weight of a standard 1944 cent. Plating would add very little to the overall weight.
Please don't get too caught up in the 'rare coin' rationale. There is a lot more going against this being anything special. The visual of the coin is very telling, especially to those of us who have examined millions of coins over the decades. I wish you good luck.

[Jay3434]

Ok thank you Bob I will let you know the results, and sorry im newer to this and get overly excited when i see something I feel as rare while roll hunting. Im learning and there is alot to learn for sure. I appreciate your help its nice to have your and others here knowledge backing me up on these issues