I received a dime in some change some months ago. It is a bright gold coin?

Question

It is bright gold. It is a littler thinner than the regular dime not much. Does anyone have any idea what type of coin it is. the minted year is 1989 in Delaware it has all the markings of a regular dime just the color. can anyone give me any information on it please. Thanks in advance for all answers

Answer 1

Please post a photo - even a fuzzy photo from a camera phone or low-end digital camera, posted to photobucket, flickr, etc. can help greatly in identification.

If the dime has a "D" mintmark, it was minted in Denver, not Delaware.  If it truly has the markings of a regular dime, then it's likely that it was:

* A regular dime that was gold plated by someone outside the Mint, in which case it is just worth its face value of 10 cents.  (The gold doesn't add value, and plated gold is so thin its precious metals value is nil.)

If the coin is truly "bright gold," this is the most likely explanation.

* A dime that was accidentally struck, in error, on a coin blank that is copper or some other metal.  Our current dimes are "clad" of layers of copper and nickel, and if an error occurred during minting, one of those layers might not be present.  That would also mean the dime would be somewhat thinner.  Here are a couple of photos of a "clad layer missing" mint error:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1974-Dime-Clad-Layer...

(a Roosevelt dime with two clad layers missing)

http://www.coinpage.com/coin-image-3023....

(a Roosevelt dime with one clad layer missing)

http://cgi.ebay.com/1982-P-WASHINGTON-25...

(a Washington quarter with one clad layer missing)

A related possibility might be a dime struck by accident on a coin blank meant for a penny.

You can find these and other similar error coins offered for sale in this eBay category:

Coins & Paper Money > Coins: US > Errors

http://coins.listings.ebay.com/Coins-US_...

Answer 2

it is probably just corroded in a way that makes it appear gold.

Answer 3

MOST likely, it is a result of a high-school chemistry project !!

Back in 1982 we electro-plated several dozen dimes and nickels with gold as part of a experiment.  They come out of the solution looking like GOLD because they have a VERY thin coating OF gold.