Odd Nickel??? :blink:

[Cladiator (OR)]

Hi everyone,

I was cleaning (tumbling) some nickels the other day and noticed when I was drying them off that one really stood out. It looked like a relatively fresh copper penny in color. I thought at first I had left some copper in the tumbler with the nickels, but that wasn't the case. Also, none of the other nickels came out like this--they all looked like a nickel should. I know nickels are 75% copper and 25% nickel, but I've never had one turn out like this before.

I rechecked the nickel with the E-Trac and it still reads 12-13.

I put another 1962-D from the same tumbled batch in the picture for comparison. The penny is just for color comparison.

[attachment 186502 copper_nickel.JPG]

Has anyone ever run into this before or know what might be up with this nickel?

Thanks! ---Cladiator

 

[Jason in Enid]

It's because during it's time buried, something reacted with it, leaving more copper than nickel on the surface. Nothing special, I see them pretty often.

 

[baspinall]

Could it be from being tumbled with copper pennies?

 

[Cladiator (OR)]

It's because during it's time buried, something reacted with it, leaving more copper than nickel on the surface. Nothing special, I see them pretty often.

Thanks Jason. That makes perfect sense. It was just something I hadn't run across before.

...Say, do you think the fact that it glows in the dark and is always warm to the touch has any significance? Nah, probably not.

Could it be from being tumbled with copper pennies?

Good thought, but it wasn't the case this time. There were only nickels in the tumbler. I have had that happen in the past though. Thanks for input!

 

[JamesBondaka]

I agree with Jason but not totally....while his answer is probably the right one as the coin is rough in condition, the other possibility exists that the coin was stuck on totally copper stock or defect material or combinations of metal and then spent some time in the ground. So, its possible a mint defective coin that was buried and recovered and not just chemically reacted to the ground or visa versa.

I do have a couple of coins like I described but the coins are in New condition from the mint. The mint does check for this type of thing l but some "slip" out from time to time.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Nickels will often turn the same copper color as yours when put through Electrolysis.
I'm getting a Tumbler soon - but because of the copper cores - I usually clean my Nickel's and Clad - in Salt & Vinegar.

 

[onemore]

yup - tumble your clad and nickels with vinegar and salt plus aquarium stones for a couple days, and they come out looking like they were never in the ground. Just rinse very thoroughly, dry and take to the bank!

 

[Cladiator (OR)]

Thanks everone for the great information. ---Cladiator