Coin, Portugal, 100 Escudos
1987 - MS(63) - Copper-nickel - KM:641
Shield to upper right of design with value below.
Compass within center of sailboat and map
DIOGO CAO 1486
16.45 gr
Cupronickel
Cupronickel (or copper-nickel), also known by the French registered term cuivre blanc (white copper), is an alloy far less modern then one might initially think. Appearances can be misleading! There are examples dating from the Warring States period in China between the 5th and 3rd century BC. Back then, it was used for weapons. In its natural state, the alloy was probably of extraterrestrial origin, arriving on Earth with falling meteorites.
As the Chinese traded with the neighboring Bactrian kingdom, it is there that the first traces of cupronickel coins are found.
Jumping ahead a few millennia and some meteor dust, it first appeared in the West in the US in 1857.
With the price of copper at its highest ever, cupronickel was chosen for the new one cent coin. The alloy at the time contained 88% copper to 12% nickel, and the coin was smaller in diameter than its predecessor (there are no small savings, right?).
Cupronickel is now extremely popular and frequently used for coinage.
Dark gray in color, this alloy, generally comprising around 75% copper to 25% nickel, is highly resistant to corrosion.
An “MS(63)” quality
As in numismatics it is important that the state of conservation of an item be carefully evaluated before it is offered to a discerning collector with a keen eye.
This initially obscure acronym comprising two words describing the state of conservation is explained clearly here:
Mint State(63)
This means – more prosaically – that it is very unlikely that the coin has circulated, even among few and careful hands. Traces of any manipulations are practically imperceptible and no patina or other form of oxidation has altered the object’s brilliance.
