I found a 2003 (I think) penny that is in extremely bad condition. I was just curious as to what could have caused the damage to it, whether it had happened during or after production. Also, it has some silver shining through, can't tell very well from the pictures, but it's clear there's silver underneath. Also, the penny weighs 2.28 g. Any thoughts? I thought it's pretty cool looking.
It's a crappy Zincoln! The silver you (think) you see is the 99.2% zinc. It doesn't take much for these coins to disintegrate in the environment. Chris
Damage and really bad damage at that. The zinc is rotting from the inside out. Definitely didn't come from the mint like that.