Expert: Cameron Kiefer - 5/28/2006

Question
hello. my aunt has a 2005 penny, that doesnt appear to be fake. but the weird part is that it doesnt appear to have one trace of copper in it. ive done all types of searches & i havent found one thing. would you have any clue as if it was misprinted or even fake? thank you so much.
Carley Stancil, NE Georgia

Answer
Hi Carley,

It sounds like your coin might be missing the outer clad layer of the coin.  This is what it sounds like without seeing the coin.  Sometimes the unstruck blanks were made wrong and then once they were struck the coin will have a different color.  The weight for a "missing clad layer" coin should be less than a genuine cent.  You would need a small scale that weighs grams to measure it.  Other than that it could also be a non genuine error where someone has used acid or some other chemical to alter the coin.  This would not give the coin any extra value if it was a non mint error.

Cameron Kiefer