Expert: Jim Lawniczak - 6/24/2007

Question
I have a 1995D cent that appears to be zinc.  I can see no copper on the coin at all, even under a microscope.  I am not a member of any grading society and have not found anyone that knows if it might be an error or just something someone coated.  I found it in change as well.  If you have heard of such an error coin, I would be happy to let you look it at.

thanks  Larry

Answer
Larry, the 1995D cent was made of zinc (all U.S. cents have been since 1982).  There is a thin copper coating on it.  I'm not sure what you mean by you can't see any copper on the coin -- I myself cannot tell the difference by the naked eye.  If the cent did get through the mint without being coated (and I think that is possible), it would probably have some value as a mint error cent.  I did a search on www.google.com for uncoated zinc cent, and one of the entries was a old eBay listing for an error uncoated cent.  I did a similar search at www.ebay.com and didn't see any uncoated cents selling now, Jim Lawniczak