what is this? It isnt a penny

[rainsonme]

I found a 1981-D Lincoln memorial coin, but it isn't a penny. It is copper, or looks copper. It is the exact diameter of a dime, but much thinner. It weighs 1.6 grams. I can clearly read the data and the legends. The thickness appears to be less than 1/3 of a dime. If a penny had been ground down, there would not be readable date and legends. And if it had weathered naturally, I doubt that all the lettering would be of equal legibility, front and back. What could this be? It is too thin for a dime planchet, and it appears to be copper.

[rainsonme]

and the reverse. All the legends and lettering are clearly legible, although the strike is faint. The reverse seems to be uniformly thinner around the edge, sloping, while the front side is flat. even though the reverse side "slopes" or is slightly beveled around the edge, the United States and One Cent are imprinted about evenly, and extend to the edge of the coin. A fellow at a coin shop said it might be the middle of a dime planchet that somehow split from the sandwich, and then found its way onto a penny press. But it is the exact diameter of a dime, and the strike is perfectly centered on the coin. But the legends go to the very edge of the coin.

[beauanderos]

probably half of a magician's coin. I found one once that was a dime on one side, a penny on the other. They hollow out the back side of a dime and insert a shaved down penny. This could be the penny insert without the dime
half?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1939-Mercury-Dime-Wheat-Penny-2-Sided-Magicians-Silver-Copper-Coin-/321684042348?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ae5dcf26c

[rainsonme]

Well, its is stamped on both sides; the Lincoln memorial is on the reverse, you can almost make out Lincoln inside the memorial. And on the front side the date, Abe, and legends are very readable. The magicians' coin you show, I presume would have been ground down on one side, to fit with a thinned Merc dime on the other side. This coin is stamped on both sides. But it is too thin for a dime. I have seen quite a few half-dollar magician coins, so I know how good they can be. This doesn't look like one of those.

[rainsonme]

According to this thread, its a penny soaked in acid, then ground down to the diameter of a dime.

http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topi ... C_ID=43086

The most simple solution is usually the correct one. Oswald was the lone gunman. Acid bath produced my thin thin penny.

Sorry to have bothered this good board with my acid bath coin.


(note: whoever did this probably spent $2 for the acid bath to save 9 cents in a parking meter)

[JadeDragon]

likely a shrink coin http://www.capturedlightning.com/frames ... llery.html