So I dug a bunch of coins from my back yard. It looks like some kid dumped his life savings back there at some point because it was full of old pennies with a few quarters, dimes, nickels and a couple of dollar coins mixed in.
At any rate they were all discolored and some of them were rusty and crusty so I thought I’d clean them up. So, I left them to soak in a bowl of CLR for about an hour.
When I cleaned them up this is what came out. Apparently the CLR removes copper from the pennies and then through electron ionization deposits the copper onto the quarters and other coins.
Interestingly there were two silver dimes that didn’t get anything deposited onto them. I’m guessing the silver is non-reactive…idk, I’m not Walter White.
pastajewelry on
Happens to the best of us.
OldeFortran77 on
Mints that stop making pennies hate this one simple trick.
Klotzster on
Can’t catch me copper!
Embarrassed_Spell_28 on
Ah yes the 26¢ piece known in some parts of the country as the Puarter and in other parts the Qenny.
MilkShakeBroughtMe on
“I ~~accidentally~~ copper plated some coins.”
athennna on
That’s really cool
king_jaxy on
Nennies
ahlmemes on
It could be a collectors item now, how many copper plated quarters have you seen lol
Oprah-Wegovy on
I think it’s more likely you dissolved the nickel plating on those quarters. I don’t think without any electric current to move the copper atoms to where they need to go you can plate anything.
Now zinc plate them and turn them to gold (brass).
swanbliss on
Those are worth $.26
gedDOh on
I did this on purpose for a science class project in 6th grade. It involved copper sulfate, a lantern battery, a copper penny, and a quarter.
alottanamesweretaken on
I prefer them like this!
TazDingoAye on

rmay14444 on
Sure sure “accidental”
IntentionlGameDesign on
Now I really want a full set of copper plated US coins
Trojan20-0-0 on
Defacing gov’t property! lol
Aliteracy on
This is kinda cool. Think I’m gunna Bill Nye some shit later. Thanks
I_Sett on
This is like the currency one would casually stumble across in a Fringe-style parallel universe.
SchizophrenicSoAmI on
At the beginning of the school year, Vern had buried a quart jar of pennies underneath his house. He drew a treasure map so he could find them again. A week later, his mom cleaned out his room and threw away the map. Vern had been trying to find those pennies for nine months. Nine months, man. You didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
27 Comments
[deleted]
So I dug a bunch of coins from my back yard. It looks like some kid dumped his life savings back there at some point because it was full of old pennies with a few quarters, dimes, nickels and a couple of dollar coins mixed in.
At any rate they were all discolored and some of them were rusty and crusty so I thought I’d clean them up. So, I left them to soak in a bowl of CLR for about an hour.
When I cleaned them up this is what came out. Apparently the CLR removes copper from the pennies and then through electron ionization deposits the copper onto the quarters and other coins.
Interestingly there were two silver dimes that didn’t get anything deposited onto them. I’m guessing the silver is non-reactive…idk, I’m not Walter White.
Happens to the best of us.
Mints that stop making pennies hate this one simple trick.
Can’t catch me copper!
Ah yes the 26¢ piece known in some parts of the country as the Puarter and in other parts the Qenny.
“I ~~accidentally~~ copper plated some coins.”
That’s really cool
Nennies
It could be a collectors item now, how many copper plated quarters have you seen lol
I think it’s more likely you dissolved the nickel plating on those quarters. I don’t think without any electric current to move the copper atoms to where they need to go you can plate anything.
I love this! I need a bowl of CLR stat!
Let’s see a photo of them pennies.
https://youtu.be/5fmRfsep450
Now zinc plate them and turn them to gold (brass).
Those are worth $.26
I did this on purpose for a science class project in 6th grade. It involved copper sulfate, a lantern battery, a copper penny, and a quarter.
I prefer them like this!

Sure sure “accidental”
Now I really want a full set of copper plated US coins
Defacing gov’t property! lol
This is kinda cool. Think I’m gunna Bill Nye some shit later. Thanks
This is like the currency one would casually stumble across in a Fringe-style parallel universe.
At the beginning of the school year, Vern had buried a quart jar of pennies underneath his house. He drew a treasure map so he could find them again. A week later, his mom cleaned out his room and threw away the map. Vern had been trying to find those pennies for nine months. Nine months, man. You didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Believe it or not
[straight to jail](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/331)
Electrolysis!
r/coins