Thoughts on shield pennies

Probably have to encase them in solid blocks of Lucite for that to happen. I don't think a TPG slab will cut it.

 

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I have a love-hate relationship with them. Love the nice shiny new appearance hate the design. It did not stop me from putting 3 rolls of nice clean ones aside just in case the world goes wacky and they end up worth something.

 

I have never done any research on it, but I think it you keep them reasonably packed, they should preserve well.
No point in having then slabbed. Not until 2120 anyway.
Or, put them in a time capsule to be opened in 2525....if Man is still alive.

 

Zager & Evans!!! Very nice!

 

Your chance of finding something are about the same in my opinion, maybe even a bit more so. It's zinc and with a poor choice of metal for a coin the chances of errors are greater. But what do you expect to find?

Die cracks or chips? They are common and can be found anywhere. How many posts have we seen about doubling and after all these years no Doubled Die from business strikes exist that I am aware of.

The design is different but a poor one. The pressure it takes to Mint a coin even on a low grade metal makes me pass.

 

And maybe not

 

Not a fan. Currently, I am culling out weak strikes, die deterioration and excess contact mark shields from my collection, for every Zincoln year. As others have noted, the sheild design is fairly pedestrian, wish they could have come up with something better...but, then, why? A great design on crappy material still equals crap. I think we will see another decade of them before they change it again.

I have learned a ton from CT since joining, and my attitudes toward different denominations have changed along with the education. Along with zinc cents, clad coinage is on the block too...Spark

 

We kick these zLincolns all the time. These coins do nothing other than tick me off most of the time. Unless it is mint state.
I have found the only way to collect these is to stack them, put them in rolls and see what they do. Only AU 58 and better. I do believe that with proper storage most Mint state and AU coins will only age, and not rot. I could be wrong, but we will see.

 

There have been zinc cents for almost 40 years and properly stored coins are still beautiful red. Just like any coin bad conditions = corroded coins. Good conditions = nice coins. Plus they are Lincoln cents and I think he would be appalled by the prejudice being displayed. Ha freakin ha

 

I think the easily corroded nature of Zincolns will eventually pay off for someone who throws back a few.
Look at Classic Head large cents. They used an inferior grade of plachet, making it hard to find a good example, and raising the prices significantly.
Same with Zincolns.
They corrode fast and easy. But, properly stored, they are fine.
But given their eagerness to deterioriate, good examples will be rarer.
So, one day, supplies will be limited.. They wont make them forever, and they will become a separate subset. Like wheaties, or Memorial cents.
And you wont be able to get bags and bags of them.
Another plus is, coins dont circulate. You just need to much change to amount to anything. Everyone puts their change in a jar at the end of the day. I do.
I have a used spaghetti cheese container. Not 8 0z, but 24. And heavy plastic. Its very close to full.
I had expected more, but when I took a quick look awhile back, it was only about $60. So ot will probably max out at $100 or so.
But, I have noticed that my change is shiny. You just dont see much in the way of worn out coins anymore, because everyone does what I do.
Just think, if your grandparents had thrown back $500 face value in coins. Gold. Silver.
Rare Indians and Lincolns. Gold pieces. Horse blanket bills.
Heck, they used to sell Confederate money for almost toilet paper prices in the backs of magazines. I could have had a million bucks worth for something like $200.
Now, its worth close to face value.
Whoda thunk it?