Hi all, I just recently traded for a collection of coins, alot of foreign coins. and some circulated US silver and ect...After looking at all I found a 1906 Indian penny thats ORIGINAL and solid brass!!! not copper.I think this was wrong planchid material and this is a rare coin, what are your thoughts? Get it graded??sorry, I dont have a way to photo it here. And what would a ball-park figure for this rareity??

The kid just helped me scan!! here it is...

Reverse, I scaned it crooked!

Actually, US small cents were struck in bronze (not copper) after the initial few years of the copper/nickel alloy. The c/n alloy looked more like brass than did the later high copper bronze alloy, though chemical cleaning treatments can result in odd off-color specimens which look like a different alloy than the coin actually is.

As to the possibility of the planchet being of brass, I don't know of any brass US coins being struck in that time period which could have contributed to such a wrong metal strike. This one is a mystery to me, sorry I can't help.

Two things you can do are to get the weight and specific gravity and see how they compare to the normal 1906.

BTW: Jeff R has an interesting piece on estimating the SG here

Let us know how things turn out.

Thanks everyone for your replys, i have a acurate scale at work that Ill weigh it. Ive looked at this thing with a loope on it still looks brassy, Ill put some acitone to it just to eliminate any coating, Paint or something.its sure weird!!

Also, I know that the US goverment made coins for other countrys, I dont know about in 1906 but Ill try & look into that option.As with .950 percent copper and.050 tin I dont see any coppper that would be brassy chemical or other, copper is copper, I work with both everyday makeing small parts and we use chemicals of all kinds to clean and all.This is a strange coin!, its even brassy in the nicks and rim.

Well everyone heres the update!, The coin is NOT plated!, the coin is NOT painted! The coin is NOT copper!, The coin is NOT an off shade of copper!,heres what it DOES have,
1) The coin is total BRASS
2) The coin is circulated and is Fine-condition.
3)The coin is ORIGINAL with the L maker mark
4) It was compaired to another (copper) 1906 and weighed the same, and the same dies.
5) It has traces of green oxidation thats found on old brass, and also original PATINA.
6)Its the same color in the bumps & nicks.
7) If it was plated it would show in the field, and it doesnt.
8) 6 people at work (coin collectors) all agree, BRASS
9) Iam going to have this graded ANACS, I may go in person for this at a show, This coin is a true rareity.......

How did you determine that the coin is brass? Remember color is NOT a valid indicator. Brass and Bronze both come in a wide variety of alloy percentages and unless the two you compare are very different the two will look exactly the same. For example compare a 1961 cent with a 1963 cent. You won't see a difference but the 61 is bronze and the 63 is brass. A cleaned bronze coin will also usually look like a high zinc composition brass as well. Specific gravity won't help either unless you already know the exact composition because tin and zinc have almost the same specific gravity so brass and bronze alloys with the same percentage of copper will have the same SG. The ONLY way to be sure of the composition is to use X-ray spectrographic analysis, Neutron activation emission analysis or some similar non-destructivce test. Or you can do a destructive assay analysis.

Personally from the pictures it just looks like a cleaned coin.

the only thing that worries me about this coin is the fact that it weighs the same as a copper coin from the same date. A brass planchet should not weight the same as a copper planchet.

The scale I used at work is for weighing parts we make, I need a real sensitive one. Ive compaired the color to the flying eagle cent and its way differant and other bronzes, so no its not a color shade differance, and no not a cleaned coin, i can assure you of that.I work with brass, copper, berilyuim everyday, I can attest to what they look like. I will have this looked at for sure, its BRASS. thanks every one for your opinions, Mike.

Up-date!, The coin is now being sent to ANACS, the coin dealer and others intown ALL agree, its off metal material and ORIGINAL!!! cant wait for it to come back in some weeks from now, If it comes back as I know it will, this will be on the front of COIN WORLD!! and you'l see, Best, Mike......

I sure hope you didn't dip it in acetone before you sent it off. Copper and its alloys react kinda funny to that stuff.

Never been touched by a chemical by me! Thanks for the heads-up though....

< I work with brass, copper, berilyuim everyday, I can attest to what they look like. >

What brass alloys do you normally work with?


Lostdutchman, I would not be too concerned about his statement that it weighed the same as a bronze cent. Except for the fact that he said that they weighed the SAME. (It is highly unlikely that any two cents selected at random would weigh exactly the same. This would tend to indicate that the scales he used were not very accurate. Possibly to just one decimal point.) And even if his coin was made of 70:30 brass (yellow brass) it's weight would still most likely be within the mint tolerance for a bronze cent. Low tolerance for a bronze cent is 2.97 grams and the AVERAGE for a weight for a 70:30 brass planchet of the same size as a cent planchet would be 2.95 grams. If it was a brass alloy with less than 30% zinc the weight would rise and be even closer to that of a bronze cent. And you can get the same kind of varietion if the amount of Tin in a bronze alloy varied as well. Of it the regular bronze planchet is simply close to the low end of the weight tolerance range.