Good evening CoinTalk! I found this today in some change from a local gas station, and I cannot figure out what is happening here. I've been google researching for an hour and can't seem to find any examples of anything quite like it. It's almost as if just part of the copper plating is missing. All of the words and the date on the obverse are there, but they're uniformly garbled and very wide. On the reverse, the wording on the right side of the coin is slightly garbled but it gets worse the farther to the left you look, and part of the rim appears to not have been struck. Has anybody seen this before?
The copper plating on a zinc cent is incredibly thin. Your coin could have been damaged 100 different ways. Spend it if you can.
I plan to now, I have just never seen one like it! Granted I also usually don't give any post-2009 penny a glance either lol Thanks for the confirmation everyone. I can't even imagine what would create damage like this. Fascinating.
Lots of things. Heat, acid, environmental, etc. The zinc coins deteriorate very easily to all kinds of things.
@SensibleSal66. I'll keep checking and if I'm on Coin Talk when you're close, I'll add the couple of likes you'll need to reach 5,000
Ok man . I'm not trying to win a race ,. Just have a ton of stuff U want to learn in such short of time . I thank You for looking out for me brother . Peace everyone .
Your coin looks like it was "whizzed" on an electric wire wheel. I have seen this effect on a copper cent but not on a plated one.