Hi there....be patient...just trying to learn lol! So looking at 2 US Cents....I have a few questions. First....1996 Cent....left side of the obverse looks like it almost missing a layer....what could possibly cause this? Second.....1985 US Cent...left side of the obverse has what I first thought were just scratched. Turns out it looks like bubbled up lines. What could cause this? Thank y’all!
The first 96' is just a stain. The 85 has plating blisters The strait lines are called linear plating blisters.
These new cents are a micro thin copper plating over a zinc core. Zinc is very reactive, and what you see is the zinc out gassing. Forming bubbles between the core and copper plating. It us very common on early ZLincolns.
Imagine if you will a zinc planchet raw about to be plated with copper. This planchet has to be clean, clean clean, or the plating won't stick completely. If there is zinc dust on the planchet when the plating is applied a small pocket of air is formed between the plating and the zinc planchet where the plating couldn't adhere properly. The Blisters form during the strike when expanding gas pushes up the copper plating from heat and pressure forming a "bubble" or "balooning effect". They can manifest in a round blister, and also linear plating blisters. During the strike, the the gas from the compressed air/decompressed air around the imperfection pocket under the copper plating has to go somewhere as it expands.
...just to slice it real thin... These crappy cents have been produced since the last half of 1982...38 years...not so new any more. @Scott White ...The planchets are made by contractors who ship them to the Mint. They had tons of problems from the get-go with plating, pressure and striking when they got made. No one likes them. They are vulnerable to environmental contamination and corrosion. If you don’t spend the ones you have now they will disintegrate before your eyes...jmho...Spark
I like the zincolns. Are they as good as the bronze or brass lincolns? No. But I think they get a bad rap. With the right conditions, even exposed zinc can last forever. I have lincoln's going on 30 years with copper plated zinc planchet's with intact plating and also split plating and they hold up. Circulation bears them up, no doubt. But I have no problem with them.
