Hello always trying to learn. What is this damage from? It has made little pockets in the forehead on the jacket the word IN and the 2 of the date to the point it looks like it seperated.
I'd have to say it looks more like zinc rot developing as a result of the copper plating being broken by contact hits - thus exposing the zinc to the elements. You see, as a general rule anyway, the zinc can't corrode and deteriorate unless it is first exposed to the elements by the copper plating being broken.
Yep, the environment can't attack zinc if it can't get to it. I suspect that many Zincolns have very weak spots in the plating as a result of the normal striking process -- that plating is going to be stretched and thinned where there's strong relief on the coin. If this exposes any microscopic voids, cracks, or pinholes that go all the way through, that's enough for the process to start, even if the coin never sustains a visible post-strike hit.
Also there are chemicals/elements that can penitrate the copper [as a sponge will soak up water] to react with the zinc below. I also believe that some of the zinc rot/oxide is already set in motion before the plating is applied.
So, over the next few years when all of the circulated zinc coins have rotted, that will only leave the undamaged proofs left to collect?
Yea, in a nut shell that's pretty must it. Zincolns will not survive the elements nearly as well as pre-82 cents.IMO. Oh, there will be lots of survivers out of the Billions made. but most of those won't be worth a grade.
The amount of crusted unrecognizable pieces of metal that show up in my pocket change just in the few years since the zinc coins came out, are outstanding. I can only recognize them because they appear to be penny sized. At least the copper pennies look like pennies no matter how badly they have been worn.
Curious to know what these chemicals/elements are. By penetrating, I'm assuming you mean diffusion rather than simply corroding pits in the copper. There are lots of elements/ions/compounds that can do that. Cal
How exactly do you define the next few years ? I mean zincolns have been around now for 35 years, and there's still plenty of the oldest ones out there ! Now I don't know how old you are, but even if you're young, I expect they'll still be around long after you're gone.
Yes, I understand, however, the amount of bad/damaged zinc coins will accelerate exponentially as the zinc coins pick up nics and dings, and oxidate. For no older than the zinc are, they sure seem to be in bad shape as a group. I also believe as a group, if you compare them at 100 yrs, the copper coins will look far better than the like group of 100 year old zinc coins. I was just making a statement that the zinc coins are junk, and there will be fewer examples of pristine coins in the zinc group eventually. And, no, I won't really care then. Just drawing it out for a conclusion.
