Collectors: Welcome Aboard! 

A word of caution from the experienced. Some of the Coins sold as “Thinned Planchets” and “Layer missing” from the composition coins are not really what they appear to be. 

Watch out, for some have deviously altered them with dipping them in Acid. These are used to deceive and usually done so at a greatly reduced price from what they would bring if they were authentic. Making you think, that they don’t know what they have. These errors go for a lot of money instead of the slightly inflated prices they offer them for. 

Sometimes the seller is innocent and doesn’t realize what they are selling are fakes. But even experienced collectors can be taken advantage of. 

If an Item seems to good to be true, it probably is! 
Here are a few examples of “Thinned Planchets.” I’ll tell you why they are fakes and what to look for.

  Acid Dipped In the Photo attached note that in the First two Photos on the left, the detail seems to drop off the coins after they are acid dipped. The Shiny one is not treated, just an example to compare with. I don’t know if you can see the thickness in the pictures but they are considerable thinner if you compare them to the one in the lower left hand corner in the yellow clothes pin you can see the difference in thickness of a regular cent and a dime on the right. 

Why would someone want to thin them? 
In the 30’s-60’s college students would do this in Chemistry class in a test tube with Sulfuric Acid. The Acid would eat off the outside layer of the coin evenly to make them as small as a dime. If you note the ripples at the top of the 1961 you see the ridges where the acid fumed a trail and left it uneven. Them, they would use it in vending machines to buy soda or pencils.

  The thinning was always used to deceive someone. Make someone think it was something it wasn’t.
Acid Dipped Today it is used in another way. 
To thin quarters or clad coins as they are commonly called today. The purpose is to make them appear that they are something they are not. A coin missing a layer of the silver on top. 
It is even being used today on State quarters. (Thanks ROGG) 

Don’t get me wrong, there are these kind of errors out there, but you have to know what to look for when detecting them. 

• First note on all the photos of the acid dipped cents and quarters. 
• Note the loss of sharpness to the detail on these coins? 
• If you use a microscope you will notice that on the edges of the coin it appears ragged or melted? 
• This is a sure indication that it is a fake. A real one will not have the detail missing there. It will be a crisp as a regular quarter. 
• If you left a coin in too long it would turn into a blank Blank 

So with information, we are now armed to protect ourselves from taken advantage of. If you get taken advantage of, Save the coin as a reminder of the transaction. Use it as a teaching aid to help others to not be taken advantage of. Share what you know with others and they will thank you in return.