Expert: Dan Moore - 2/15/2011

Question
Hello. My girlfriend was given a penny by her father that appears to be a transitional error and I'd like to try to confirm this. The coin is a 1980 penny (two years before the transition from copper), it's from the Denver mint, stamped "D", and is "silver"in color. it has a weight more consistent with that of a dime's, and the outer rim is thicker on the bottom of the coin, with a thinner slice of the "border" at the top right, as if it was cast from a dime planchett with not quite enough material to fully form the penny. Also, we tried dropping a new penny, a dime and the coin in question on a hard surface, and it sounded much more like the dime than the new penny. We realize that such transitional errors happen every so often in coin minted in 1982 - the present, but haven't been able to find info on this specific example. One site hinted that it may be an "ultra-rare transitional error", but would that translate to any value? Thank you so much for your time.

Tommy

Answer
Tommy,

Most likely what you have is a cent struck on a dime planchet -- especially since you said that it weighs like a dime and has the silvery color of a dime.  If this is the case, the extimated value for it would be about $150.

I don't believe anything transitional is going on, because if it was on a transitional planchett, you would have a mix of copper and zinc colors on the coin, and it would weight 2.5 grams, instead of the 2.27 grams of a dime or the 3.1 grams of a copper penny.  But if you want another opinion, for about $35 you can send it in to be certified by PCGS or NGC.  See the following websites for details on how to get it certified :

http://www.pcgs.com

http://www.ngccoin.com

I hope this helps,

Dan