Expert: PAPAJACK - 2/17/2009

Question
I work at a grocery store and came across a silver 1976 penny. It has a liberty bell and United states stamped on the sides of Lincoln's head. I asked a man at work who collects like crazy and he told me it's real however all that he's seen that are silver have never had the stamps and I can't find anything to suggest otherwise online?

_Whitney

Answer
Hello Whitney,                      

These indeed are real coins but they have been altered.
The 1976 USA Lincoln cent weighs 3.11 grams and there were millions released for circulation.
It was the Bicentennial of the USA and this was just another souvenir made from a One Cent coin. The Normal One Cent was over-stamped with a Liberty Bell design among other images like the Shape of a state or an outline of the United States and then plated usually with chrome

They were not made by the USA Mint this way. A private company did the alteration.
As an altered coin it holds no numismatic collectable value. It would only sell as a novelty or a piece of Bicentennial Memorabilia for less than a dollar.

Thank You and Good Luck

PapaJack