Expert: PAPAJACK - 1/10/2005

Question
Hi Papajack,

My daughter received a 1999 gold penny for change at a store "about" 4 1/2 years ago. It is the same color as the Sacagawea dollar coin, and is tarnishing like the Sacagawea dollar. I kept the penny because I had never seen one like it.  The penny feels like a regular penny. Do you know if pennies and the Sacagawea dollar were minted at the same facility? and have you heard of a gold 1999 penny being mistakenly minted? Thank you so much for your time and consideration.  Kathleen

Answer
Hello Kathy,

The Mint gets it's one cent blanks from outside vendors. It makes the new dollar blanks at the mint from coins of flat stock. They could not have made a one cent blank from the roll since they do not blank their own cent  coins. This is not the first time I have heard of the off color coins.
The Golden colored coin is made at all the mints as are all the coins you see.

To the best I could find there are no known off metal strike of 1999 one cent coins. There are a few reasons for the OFF-COLOR of your coin.

There is the possibility, but if your coin is the same size and thickness as a normal 1999 or earlier US Cent then it has been altered. If yours is not the same as a Normal-Cent it has to be looked at by an experienced dealer. They will do this at no charge for you. Just visit a coin show or shop in your area.  If it is a coin made on the wrong metal it is valuable. Get a second opinion, since the mint gets the blanks for the coins from outside companies that supply metal blanks for all purposes. Other metal blanks of similar size can be mixed in by accident.

It is possible someone plated yours, even now the gold-plated state quarters are selling well. But if this discoloration happened after the coins left the US Mint, they have no real numismatic or collectable value except as a novelty item.  
Some other possibilities are:  
It is a cent that was plated with some other metal. (Cadmium, brass, tin etc.)
I have even seen cents cleaned in gold and silver cleaners that change their color to gold-like hues.  Even the washing they get at the US Mint may have been contaminated by the Golden Dollars made but they were not in production in 1999.

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Good Luck

PapaJack