The Color Differences In Pennies - Coin Talk

Maybe your like

Log in or Sign up

Coin Talk Home Forums > CoinTalk > What's it Worth > The color differences in pennies

Discussion in 'What's it Worth' started by Brittany Coe, Jun 22, 2018.

Page 1 of 2 1 2 Next >

Brittany Coe Bstingbutterfly

Can some one please educate me on the difference in color from penny to penny please? Im attaching 3 pictures of different color groups and then one picture of all of them in a group for comparison. Why are some so light shiny and coppery looking, some are plain matte brown, and others a rich red brown? Lol sorry so long, thanks!
Brittany Coe, Jun 22, 2018 #1 + Quote Reply
Guest User Guest

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.
Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

There are as many different answers to that as there are cents. The earlier Lincoln’s are mostly a copper composition. Copper changes hues in relation to the environment it is exposed to. The dome of my states capitol building is copper and it’s as green as can be. Everything those cents have been exposed to... Sunlight, moisture, sweaty pockets..... Everything contributes to the hue you see before you.
Randy Abercrombie, Jun 22, 2018 #2 + Quote Reply Coinneseur and Brittany Coe like this.
Brittany Coe Bstingbutterfly

Randy Abercrombie said: ↑
There are as many different answers to that as there are cents. The earlier Lincoln’s are mostly a copper composition. Copper changes hues in relation to the environment it is exposed to. The dome of my states capitol building is copper and it’s as green as can be. Everything those cents have been exposed to... Sunlight, moisture, sweaty pockets..... Everything contributes to the hue you see before you.Click to expand...
Randy Abercrombie said: ↑
There are as many different answers to that as there are cents. The earlier Lincoln’s are mostly a copper composition. Copper changes hues in relation to the environment it is exposed to. The dome of my states capitol building is copper and it’s as green as can be. Everything those cents have been exposed to... Sunlight, moisture, sweaty pockets..... Everything contributes to the hue you see before you.Click to expand...

Brittany Coe, Jun 22, 2018 #3 + Quote Reply
Brittany Coe Bstingbutterfly

So what about the really red looking ones ?
Brittany Coe, Jun 22, 2018 #4 + Quote Reply
Brittany Coe Bstingbutterfly

Is that just aother color copper turns over time?
Brittany Coe, Jun 22, 2018 #5 + Quote Reply
Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

Brittany Coe said: ↑
So what about the really red looking ones ?Click to expand...
Well there’s no way to put a definitive response to that. I would suspect natural toning though. However it could be as simple as a bored kid with a crayon! But natural toning occurs and can make a copper cent turn most any hue.
Randy Abercrombie, Jun 22, 2018 #6 + Quote Reply Coinneseur and Brittany Coe like this.
Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

There was a thread earlier this week where a post showing a comparison of copper cent hues from brown to red and every variation in between. It was a chart really. I wish I wasn’t on my phone or I would hunt it down for you.
Randy Abercrombie, Jun 22, 2018 #7 + Quote Reply Coinneseur and Brittany Coe like this.
Brittany Coe Bstingbutterfly

Thank you for the information! I guess I was trying to figure out what the color difference plus the condition of a coin would be worth grading or not
Brittany Coe, Jun 22, 2018 #8 + Quote Reply Coinneseur likes this.
Brittany Coe Bstingbutterfly

I have a couple of wheat pennies in there and a couple 60's pennies that have a nice thick die on them. I really don't know what is grounds to have something graded or if its just not worth it. I seen some where how the color of pennies make a difference in the grade?
Brittany Coe, Jun 22, 2018 #9 + Quote Reply Coinneseur likes this.
Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

No.... Color variations have nothing really to do with coin grading. Those cents would be nice to hold onto and start building a collection from but are face value cents. Not at all coins that you would want to invest the cost of grading. Pick yourself up a Redbook. It’s every coin lover bible. It will give you a foundation to build from before you make a mistake and spend money grading coins that you can’t get back!
Randy Abercrombie, Jun 22, 2018 #10 + Quote Reply Coinneseur likes this.
BooksB4Coins Newbieus Sempiterna

Brittany Coe said: ↑
Thank you for the information! I guess I was trying to figure out what the color difference plus the condition of a coin would be worth grading or notClick to expand...
Very, very, very rarely is a coin pulled from circulation worth "grading" (meaning submitting to a plastic factory), but if you'd like to get a more general idea of grading standards and do not have access to large numbers of graded coins, perhaps consider spending some time digging through the Heritage archives. Simply pick whatever type and search for them as this will give you photos in slab-worthy grade ranges. It's not a perfect solution and there will be expectations*, but should make for a decent start. Good luck. Edit: EXCEPTIONS. Oy...
Last edited: Jun 22, 2018 BooksB4Coins, Jun 22, 2018 #11 + Quote Reply Paul M. and Brittany Coe like this.
Brittany Coe Bstingbutterfly

BooksB4Coins said: ↑
Very, very, very rarely is a coin pulled from circulation worth "grading" (meaning submitting to a plastic factory), but if you'd like to get a more general idea of grading standards and do not have access to large numbers of graded coins, perhaps consider spending some time digging through the Heritage archives. Simply pick whatever type and search for them as this will give you photos in slab-worthy grade ranges. It's not a perfect solution and there will be expectations, but should make for a decent start. Good luck.Click to expand...
Good Idea! Thanks
Brittany Coe, Jun 22, 2018 #12 + Quote Reply
JayF Active Member

Randy Abercrombie said: ↑
There was a thread earlier this week where a post showing a comparison of copper cent hues from brown to red and every variation in between. It was a chart really. I wish I wasn’t on my phone or I would hunt it down for you.Click to expand...
I have that chart but I got it from this site which talks abit about the different colors of the cents. https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/copper-color-grading-768388
JayF, Jun 22, 2018 #13 + Quote Reply eddiespin, Brittany Coe and Randy Abercrombie like this.
Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

JayF said: ↑
I have that chart but I got it from this site which talks abit about the different colors of the cents. https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/copper-color-grading-768388Click to expand...
Thanks for that link. I believe that is exactly the info the OP was looking for. And I learned from it too.
Randy Abercrombie, Jun 22, 2018 #14 + Quote Reply Brittany Coe likes this.
Burton Strauss III Brother can you spare a trime? Supporter

Red is supposed to be that fresh from the mint color and everything else is exposure to something of one kind or another. General atmospheric and circulation gives the brown color. Which is really Environmental Damage (ED), just the kind we expect. Everything else is some other form of ED, it's just that some are pleasing (crazy colors) and others are not.
Burton Strauss III, Jun 22, 2018 #15 + Quote Reply Brittany Coe likes this.
Sherika mcclennon New Member

I have a blue tint 2018 d penny is it worth any thing
Sherika mcclennon, Jul 18, 2019 #16 + Quote Reply
Burton Strauss III Brother can you spare a trime? Supporter

1. Environmental damage 2. Please don't hijack threads - start your own 3. Pics and use a good title
Burton Strauss III, Jul 18, 2019 #17 + Quote Reply Spark1951 likes this.
Burton Strauss III Brother can you spare a trime? Supporter

Dup
Burton Strauss III, Jul 18, 2019 #18 + Quote Reply
jeremu New Member

I really beg to differ on this one I believe that color and tone has somewhat of a part and how much a coin is worth... There are some bronze pennies out there that are valuable and also you have silver steel and copper of course.. and they're really only time copper turns green is when it is exposed to humidity or water over time and it will tarnish a green color.. and those red pennies that look distinctively red are not from some little kid taking a crown to it I guarantee that!!..Yes a lot has to do with the circulation of the penny and how long it's been in circulation... That's why you see uncirculated coins very very shiny most of the pennies and coins that we get out of our pocket change our dull looking..So so I guess to answer your question yes appearance matters but as to say what the color variations actually mean in a sense to where they could have struck certain coins on certain types of Base metals when they ran out of copper who knows... I've seen a lot of strange coins come out of the mint so if I was you I would just keep digging till I found out,
jeremu, Oct 3, 2022 #19 + Quote Reply
jeremu New Member

Color does have someone to do with the price or the value because I've seen coins that were graded a deep dark brown that were supposedly rare struck..
jeremu, Oct 3, 2022 #20 + Quote Reply