Which penny is real

Because the color was silvery, it was easy to mistake a penny for a dime. Fortunately, pennies were only made that way for one year. You might have little round sandwiches in your pocket Most of our coins are metal sandwiches. The outside layers are three-quarters copper and one-quarter nickel, and the "filling" is solid copper.

Pennies are made of zinc coated with copper. Would you like fries with that? This penny is almost as big as a half dollar America's first one-cent piece, called the "large cent," was first struck in , one year after the Mint opened. It was so big that it was hard to use, but it wasn't replaced by a smaller penny until , more than 50 years later. George Washington was our first President — but not the first President on a circulating coin In , President Lincoln appeared on a one-cent coin and became the first real person—as well as the first American president—to have his face appear on a regular-issue American coin.

We used to trade gold, silver, and copper A law directed American money to be made of gold, silver and copper. The dollar, half dollar, quarter, dime, and half dime were composed of silver. The cent and half cent were made of copper. How much was in that first batch? That first batch consisted of 11, copper cents. This process is the easiest way to tell if your penny is solid copper or copperplated.

You can test your penny yourself by seeing if it sticks to a magnet. If it does, your penny is worth about 15 cents as a novelty item. If your copper colored penny doesn't stick to a magnet, then use a magnifying glass to look at the date. A very common fraud involving the copper cent is to grind away part of the 8 in the date of a penny.

If the tail of the last digit in the date, the number 3, does not extend well below the bottom of the other numbers in the date, it is probably a cut-in-half 8 see the photo above.

If the 3 in your date looks like half of an 8, your coin is not a genuine copper penny. Chinese counterfeiters are manufacturing some high-quality counterfeit coins to deceive coin collectors in the United States. These coins are made to resemble a genuine Lincoln cent, and the Chinese counterfeiters use copper blanks so they won't stick to a magnet.

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to tell the difference between a genuine copper penny and a Chinese counterfeit. Fortunately, Lincoln cent experts at third-party grading services can tell the difference by closely inspecting the coin under a stereo microscope.

Additionally, a professional numismatist may be able to tell the difference for you before you send it to a third-party grading service. If your copper penny does not stick to a magnet and the last digit in the date "3" does not look like it was altered from a penny, then you should seek a second opinion from a qualified coin dealer for a professional opinion.

Most dealers do not charge to have a look at your coins and give you an informal verbal appraisal. If they believe it is authentic, you can ask them to submit it to a third party grading service on your behalf. If the coin dealer determines that it is a fake, then you will want to seek a second opinion from another dealer. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content.

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