Yes, it is a dryer coin, and yes, it is undead.
I’d say a cent which came loose from a “lucky penny” as proposed in one of the first replies. It also could have been encased in a frame on a keychain or pendant, and then taken out. The dryer idea doesn’t fly, IMHO.
Incidentally, a fun trick: Cut a small notch in the edge of a penny to expose the zinc inside, and then drop it in hydrochloric acid. The acid will eat away the zinc, but leave the copper untouched, leaving you with a hollow penny.
You can then use it to make very spicy salsa, as everybody knows that hollow penny dip is extremely hot.
I used to turn pennies to silver then gold when I taught science. I usually did this as a demonstration, but the science club kids were allowed to do this as a club activity. They got to keep the coins as souvenirs. Beware, you can hurt yourself bad with the lye if you aren’t careful. Follow proper lab safety procedures for heat and caustics (Rubber gloves, apron, safety goggles).
- Put some zinc in a fairly strong lye solution (maybe 20 g Zn in 200 mL water with 10 g NaOH). Don’t put in the zinc until the lye’s dissolved. Heat 'til steamy, but not boiling.
- While solution heats, clean some U.S. cents in white vinegar. Rinse well with distilled water.
- Carefully place cents in solution using tongs. Cents will turn “silver” (really they are zinc plated).
- Remove cents, rinse in distilled water.
- Use tongs and heat cents gently over a flame. They will turn “gold” (really, the zinc and copper alloy, making brass). Be careful heating 1983 or newer cents over a Bunsen burner flame- they’ll melt.
Cleanup- Drain the lye solution from the zinc. Rinse zinc repeatedly to remove all NaOH. Use a strainer or similar device to do this. You don’t want the lye solution to dry on the zinc. It can catch fire.
These coins got around- I got a couple back in change over the years.
This talk of counterfeit pennies reminds me of one I have. At least, I used to think it was bogus.
http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv319/ashbul/counterfeitpenny.jpg
I collected this in my youth, and one day couldn’t help but notice that the oldest penny in the bunch looked suspiciously too shiny. (Compare it to the 1911 coin, obviously well-circulated and typical of what I came across in my foraging.)
The 1909 coin has an odd patina, not quite smooth. Almost looks like a paint job, but it ain’t paint - can’t be scratched off (I tried). I suspect it was plated by someone looking to spiff it up, maybe for resale, but since I found it in a roll of pennies from the bank, it apparently got back into the general stream of currency, to be snatched up by a sharp-eyed ten-year-old.
Innerestin’.
Since nobody else has said it, I will:
Groan! :smack:
(Great pun, BTW!)
I’d rather have an Euro.
mmm
One of these? 
It looks plated to me also, especially the spotty surface because it wasn’t cleaned well enough, or the solution was bubbly. It my have been a ten-year-old who did it, copper electroplating was a pretty common home chemistry set experiment back when you could still sell poisons to kids. And likely a young collector would be more likely to think shining up a wheat penny would make it better.
On another note, I have an indian head cent that has been gold-plated. The are close enough in size that apparently some people would pass them as $5 gold coins at the time.
Probably you mena a $2 1/2 Indian head gold piece.
Nah, for the really spicy salsa, you need Roman emperor re-enactors. Hobby Neros are about a hundred times spicier than hollow pennies.
The story I heard mentioned the $5 Indian head, but looking, the 2 1/2 is a bit smaller but closer to a penny in size, and the 5 is bit bigger, dunno. I’m sure the $2 1/2 would be more similar in weight though.
For that, you BOTH must die.
According to Wikipedia, it was the Liberty head nickel that was gold plated to look like a Liberty head half eagle ($5 coin). Note that the obverse of the two look very similar.
You’re right, I’m sorry. Unfortunately I’m not too tech savvy, so I can’t link… and I can’t paste in the picture. Oh well, one more mystery to go unsolved. :rolleyes:
I found a penny that matches your description pretty dang well. I am also wondering the same thing. mine is from '86 and it is slightly larger, lighter, and thinner than a normal one. it is a gray color all around, and i haven’t scratched it to see if i can see any change, but maybe ill try.
Interesting tidbit from the US Mint (using “circulating coins” in the first field): In 2015, they minted 9.3 billion pennies and 7.7 billion coins of all other values together.