Gold Cent

[Cent1225]

This is a gold colored cent. Picture of obverse is pretty close to actual color.
Both sides and the edges are gold. Details on both sides are excellent.
Gold Plated? Some other process? Real mistake with an incorrect blank?
Don't want to scratch it to find out.
Your opinions are appreciated.
Even SWAG's will be considered.
Thanks.

[HPMBTT]

My first instinct tells me that someone painted it. I have a silver Lincoln cent that I got recently when sorting. I also have a gold Kennedy half.

[henrysmedford]

From--http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryhowtoguide/a/goldsilverpenny.htm


Gold and Silver Pennies
Fun Chemistry Project
By Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., About.com Guide

You can use chemistry to change the color of copper pennies to silver and gold.

Anne Helmenstine
All you need are a couple of common chemicals to turn your normal copper-colored pennies (or other mainly-copper object) from copper to silver and then to gold. No, the coins won't really be silver or gold. The actual metal involved is zinc. This project is easy to do. While I don't recommend it for very young kids, I'd consider it appropriate for kids ages third grade and older, with adult supervision.
Materials Needed for this Project

clean pennies
zinc1 metal (preferably powder)
sodium hydroxide2 or sodium hydroxide solution
tweezers or tongs
container of water3
source of heat/flame
Note: Supposedly you can substitute galvanized nails for the zinc and Drano™ for the sodium hydroxide, but I was unable to get this project to work using nails and drain cleaner.
How to Make Silver Pennies

Pour a spoonful of zinc (1-2 grams) into a small beaker or evaporating dish containing water.
Add a small quantity of sodium hydroxide.
Alternatively, you could add zinc to a 3M NaOH solution.
Heat the mixture to near-boiling, then remove it from heat.
Add clean pennies to the solution, spacing them so that they are not touching each other.
Wait 5-10 minutes for them to turn silver, then use tongs to remove the pennies from the solution.
Rinse the pennies in water, then set them on a towel to dry.
You can examine the pennies once you have rinsed them.
This chemical reaction plates the copper4 in the penny with zinc. This is called galvanization. The zinc reacts with the hot sodium hydroxide solution to form soluble sodium zincate, Na2ZnO2, which is converted to metallic zinc when it touches the surface of the penny.
How to Make the Silver Pennies turn Gold

Grasp a silver penny with tongs.
Gently heat the penny in the outer (cool) part of a burner flame or with a lighter or candle (or even set it on a hotplate).
Remove the penny from heat as soon as it changes color.
Rinse the gold penny under water to cool it.
Heating the penny fuses the zinc and copper to form an alloy called brass. Brass is a homogeneous metal that varies from 60-82% Cu and from 18-40% Zn. Brass has a relatively low melting point, so the coating can be destroyed by heating the penny for too long.
Safety Information

Please use proper safety precautions. Sodium hydroxide is caustic. I recommend conducting this project under a fume hood or outdoors. Wear gloves and protective eyewear to prevent getting splashed by the sodium hydroxide solution.

Recent Chemistry Features5 | Chemistry Encyclopedia6

[68Camaro]

Or it could be someboby in an analysis lab playing with their gold sputtering machine used for electron microscopy.

[tinhorn]

I've come across a few of those. They're kinda fun, but my favorite is a penny that looks like it was chrome plated--very shiny.

[DirtyFingers]

Like alot of others, I've found a handful of those over the years. They sure are pretty and everytime I see
one I think back about the guy who made a cent or two out of gold and put them into circulation. Anyone else
remember reading that story?

Anyone else think to check for a WAM when they saw the pics of the 2000? Old habits die hard they say.

[dtfstock]

I know of a couple of science teachers at a local high school that do some experiments each year and the kids all bring pennies in and they make them look gold and silver with some sort of electro-plating thing

[galenrog]

Used to this in chemistry class in junior high. Find one or two a month sorting. Give them to grandkids.

[rickygee]

Like alot of others, I've found a handful of those over the years. They sure are pretty and everytime I see
one I think back about the guy who made a cent or two out of gold and put them into circulation. Anyone else
remember reading that story?

Yep, just what I was thinking! No more has ever been reported on those golden cents that I've run across. Hope some kid didn't just drop one in the convenient store parking lot because he didn't want to bother with it.