Compadre Penny

[tab-nabit]

Got out a little today to swing the Compadre for a little hand therapy in light rain, then a cell dumped and got me soaked before I could make a dash out of there.
Didn't get much but a junk bracelet and a few pennies, but one didn't look dark or copper color. So I cleaned it more with the fingers since I had the rain for water. I have steel cents from war time and that all makes sense. But this is a 87 D, and I have found a couple others like it before, but would have to locate them them for the year.
I don't know why not before, but today for whatever reason, it's getting me to wonder. It kind of reminds me the steel 40s. Any ideas what takes the copper color out of these?
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[Macaco]

But the date means it should be. 1983 or later would be clad zinc.

Could you have a copper (bronze) penny from 1987? Is that possible?

Maybe a rare coin.

I found this:

For pennies minted in 1982, when both copper and zinc cents were made, the safest and best way to tell their composition is to weigh them. Copper pennies weigh 3.11 grams, whereas the zinc pennies weigh only 2.5 grams. Be sure to use a scale that is accurate enough to detect the tenth of a gram (0.10) or better.

Copper Or Zinc Penny?

Do you have a scale to weigh it?

 

[tab-nabit]

I just don't know but seems I put it in a bad way. Like a few others before, with the exception on war pennies, it came up like a lead fishing sinker coloration. It wasn't dark and no hint of a copper coloration. I have a few others from detecting before and remember the wife saying something, but like usual, in one ear & out the other.
Anyway I put it on one of my scales as your reply mentioned. It bounced between 2.4 and 2.5g, then I went ahead and tossed on a couple others just to show a comparison of what I mean as far as the coloration difference. This one (87D) I popped up just under the soil surface under a tree between the surface roots. It was just somewhat dry bare soil and surface roots under the tree. It was raining so I was working more under trees which didn't keep me dry but did help a little. Then when a heavy cell hit, I made a scram dash to the vehicle and still ended up getting a good soaking. Didn't cover the Compadre so hope the innards fair well.
Few more pics:
Thanks Steve
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[Hombre]

I was hunting at an old park in my hometown and just getting started, when this older fellow comes over to me with some thing in his hand he's wanting to show me. He lives by the park and I have talked with him on several occasions. One time he showed me an indian head penny he had found by eyeballing it on the ground, this time it was a late 40's wheat penny. He walked up to me, so I turned my detector off and slipped off the headphones, and got ready for our usual conversations. In the outstreched palm of his hand he held a wheat penny, just an ordinay every day one with a date of 1948 I believe. He handed it to me and asked if I noticed any thing different about it. I said no, even the color and patina looked normal, then he pulled out of his pocket a magnet, and to my amazement he stuck the wheat penny to the magnet. He asked me if I knew any thing about the coin,and I told him about the 1943 bronze penny that is a rare one. But never had I heard of a steal planchet 1948 penny. I told him I thought it was a rare and valuable coin, and for him to have it checked out by somebody who would know. I just told hime not to sell it before knowing the "true value" and not getting ripped off by some one. That was a couple of years ago and I have'nt talked to him since, maybe I'll have to check in on him soon........Hombre

 

[tab-nabit]

I trolled the change in my pocket and actually had another 87D, so took them to the back patio for another shot in the shade, using natural light.
Man I been having strange problems with this pocket digital camera so may have to get another. Sometimes it won't hold the pic. My other camera won't take low quality 640x480 still shots, and it sure won't fit in my shirt pocket. So maybe a new pocket camera may have to replace this piece of junk. I'm not one for taking pics.
Anyway the pics for showing the difference of two 87D pennies - front/back
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[JB(MS)]

The soil here is basically mineral free but it's very acidic in most places. Don't know if that's what causes it but finding black pennies, both zincs and pre zincs, isn't at all unusual. The pennies in the photo were found at the same place on the same hunt, and two of the black looking ones are pre zinc. After pre-zinc pennies have been in the ground for a few years here they can be green, purple tinted, orange or a mixture of several colors, the zincs rot away.
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[tab-nabit]

Interesting.
Here is a 43 and the 87 side by side. Interesting on the coloration between the two.
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