is this worth anything ?

[sharl]

hi i have a 2p dated 1994 its on silver metal like a 10p i cant seem to find another one on the internet i was just wondering if it is worth anything or worth keeping a hold on

thanks

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f374/sha...86/DSC00001.jpg

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f374/sha...86/DSC00003.jpg

hope they work

[£400 for a Penny ?]

The thing with something like that these days Sharl, is that there are so many fakes and dodgy dealings that most people wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. It MIGHT be what is termed an 'off metal strike' but it might well be some kind of reproduction.

If you have £10 to spare you could send it to one of the third party grading company's, they will assess if it is genuine and if it is, encapsulate it. THEN the rest of us will believe it's real - and probably not before ?

That's what I would do anyway

[Chris Perkins]

And is it 1994? If so then it's copper plated steel.....and that's what they look like when the copper has been chemically removed (not hard to do).

[sharl]

ok i will try that do you have any suggestions as to what "third party grading company's" i should look for ?? thanks for the reply

[sharl]

oh, ok then is there any way that i can tell if it has had that done to it ???

[Chris Perkins]

To be honest I don't think it's worth spending any money on it! Even as an off metal (genuine error) it may not be worth much more than £10 anyway. Does it look like steel, rather than a 10p which is cupro-nickel and more 'chromey'? It should be slightly magnetic. Do the letters and other details look slightly sharper than a normal one of the same date? If they are slightly sharper then it's an indication that they are missing their thin copper layer.

[sharl]

if its not worth getting it checked then ill just keep it .thanks for the advice

[Peckris]

Hi - those two pictures are way out of focus, but enough survives for me to see an underlying copper tint in parts of them. So my conclusion would be that this is a regular 2p coin that has been silver-washed or chromed. Keep it as a curio but if it is indeed a regular strike then it has no value above face.

[Chris Perkins]

That could just be the light. But seriously, it is so easy to strip the copper off a steel coin. I used to do it as a kid in the early 90s when they first issued copper plated steel coins.

[1949threepence]

To be honest I don't think it's worth spending any money on it! Even as an off metal (genuine error) it may not be worth much more than £10 anyway. Does it look like steel, rather than a 10p which is cupro-nickel and more 'chromey'? It should be slightly magnetic. Do the letters and other details look slightly sharper than a normal one of the same date? If they are slightly sharper then it's an indication that they are missing their thin copper layer.

Am I right in saying that all the post 1992 "bronze" is magnet attractive, whereas pre 1992, not at all ?

Somewhere around that year, anyway.

[DaveG38]

To be honest I don't think it's worth spending any money on it! Even as an off metal (genuine error) it may not be worth much more than £10 anyway. Does it look like steel, rather than a 10p which is cupro-nickel and more 'chromey'? It should be slightly magnetic. Do the letters and other details look slightly sharper than a normal one of the same date? If they are slightly sharper then it's an indication that they are missing their thin copper layer.

Am I right in saying that all the post 1992 "bronze" is magnet attractive, whereas pre 1992, not at all ?

Somewhere around that year, anyway.

Up to 1992, all bronze coins 1/2p, 1p and 2p were literally bronze. In 1992, the Mint produced both the 1p and 2p in copper plated steel for the business strike circulating coins. However, for the uncirculated sets and proof sets, the mint used bronze as in previous years. As the bronze coins were only produced for the sets, it is unlikely that you might find a bronze 1p or 2p in change, even though some will have been broken up.

For 1998, the Mint produced 2p coins only using both bronze blanks and copper plated steel blanks for circulating coins. The proportion is roughly 45%/55% steel/bronze, so it is much easier to find the two kinds in circulation.

There are two tests. The most reliable is to use a magnet, when the steel type will be attracted and the bronze won't. The other lies in the colour of the coin. The copper plated type is distinctly pink, whilst the bronze is more orange. However, as the coins wear and tarnish this colour difference becomes more difficult to distinguish.