can someone explain to me what's going on with the obverse of this coin? Is it a badly broken die? Does anyone see anything else that I may be missing? I dont think its PMD. But I'm not that good. Thanks in advance
I am not a post-1982 Lincoln expert and if I am wrong, I apologize..... I have seen cents with this appearance. I personally attribute this to a bubbling up of the thin copper layer. See the zinc core acts as an anode on these cents so the copper layer almost becomes a sacrificial lamb to the zinc core. They are prone and extremely susceptible to all manner of surface oddities. I fully suspect that in fifty years zinc core Lincolns will be quite rare simply because they are prone to and will deteriorate over time.
Here's another example @Joe kool I don't recall seeing many the past year or two. Maybe they fixed the problem?
Very informative. Thank you! I totally lost my mind and forgot they were zinc coins covered with copper. Do people buy these. I think its ugly!
Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww...wash your hands after handling them, they might have some kind of pox..... naw, just plating blisters. WHY ARE OUR CENT COINS SO UGLY?
I had an '84 doubled ear Lincoln that I found in my wife's change. It was certified with a grade of MS64 red. I finally decided to sell it many years later and found that almost no one wanted it that I offered it to at an ANA convention in Rosemont. While talking to one dealer, he told me about this plating problem and sure enough, my coin had some surface bubbles I hadn't noticed. I finally "gave it away" relative to its then wholesale price but was glad to get rid of it. Given how little I had in it (1c plus low certification costs), I still made a handsome profit off a coin that was coming apart!
Those Zincolns are terribly unstable for the long haul. I would hope that once in a slab, it's largely 'frozen in time'. But...
My memory isn't what it used to be and in forty years I've forgotten more stuff than I can remember [sorry], however, I vaguely recall an experiment I did for science class when I was ten or eleven or twelve. I had a chuck of copper connected to a voltmeter's roach clip immersed in water (plain tap water); probably the positive pole. I had a chunk of zinc (I bought at the "science and stuff" discount store on Layton Avenue) connected to the other voltmeter roach clip, immersed in the same water (a small fish tank or maybe some sort of glass bowl used normally in the kitchen). The voltmeter reported current between the nodes - the one with copper and one with zinc. There was perhaps a quarter to half foot separation between the two metals. The water in Milwaukee was pretty dense with chlorine (one could smell it) but the water was clear and healthy (as far as I know). So, all that to say, putting zinc together with copper seems a very foolish plan, or even ignorant. Using zinc seems even more silly when one considers the use of zinc in coinage in the past - by poor nations, or defeated and desperate governments. Goodness. What a rant. I'll stop now. Best, David