I think this one is interesting because it's eaten away to the core in spots without whatever did it seeming to have damaged the remaining surface in the least. Most of the damage is on the reverse. There's one chunk missing from in between parts of the letter, "N," in "CENT," with the letter, itself, still completely intact. Remembering what I read here yesterday, I'm wondering if it might be SLIGHTLY clipped from about 2:30-4:00, looking at the reverse. Any theories on how it might've come to look as it does will be appreciated...and then I think my questions about coins that look wrong will be covered until the next time I see something unusual. Gracias!
Enviromental Damage I copied this from a site I was researching. Copper is a very reactive metal, which oxidizes easily in the presence of moisture, he says. "The problems can range from slight dullness of surface, a matte type of appearance, to very heavily pitted, corroded, foxhole type of problems … from slightly dull, to lightly grainy, to light even granularity, to scale and green deposits." Green or blue-green deposits are verdigris, a poisonous, acidic copper compound at the end of the oxidation process. The substance may be pronounced VERD-uh-grease, VERD-uh-griss or VERD-uh-gree, and it may start as a filmy, scummy coating or become a raised crust. Copper collectors refer to the latter form inelegantly as "crud," and such a coin and even some lesser corrosion problem pieces as "scudzy." An encrustation of verdigris can be removed carefully by an expert, arresting any advance, but a pit will be left where the corrosion ate below the surface of the coin. "Porosity," strictly speaking, involves pitting. Jack Beymer, a dealer whose inventory is regularly strong in early U.S. copper, sees porosity as the effect of extreme oxidation but on a continuum that begins with simple, natural toning. "Ultimately, it's the effect of the environment on the surface. You could term really heavy black toning a form of porosity," he says. "It's oxidation. Extreme oxidation. Heavy craters? Obviously just porosity gone rampant. Light porosity is very light pitting." Julian Leidman, another dealer who regularly carries early U.S. copper, said: "I would probably define [porosity] as irregular surfaces due to outside influences. You're going to have areas of coins with pitting, maybe from something lying on it, or it was in the dirt and something ate into it." The chief culprit in corrosion and pitting is moisture, Reynolds says. Copper is especially vulnerable if stored improperly and is additionally vulnerable in ocean climates and damp basements, he says.
onDvine - I haven't got a clue as to what caused it - but it does appear to be damage and nothing that happened at the mint. But at the same time it looks like the cladding is peeling away on the coin's edge survivor - Your coin looks to me like whatever ate through the clad layer also strongly corroded the zinc core.
I look at it and wonder how, exactly, it happened. This seemed a good time to make sure it didn't happen in some obscure, value-boosting way. H-P 3-in-1 machine...I was tinkering with the settings today. I had the scanner set for max. possible sharpness...I think called "Extreme." Resolution was 300. I tried at 600, but had to kick it down using Picture It! to upload here w/o being told it was too big.
Thanks. Pitting does seem like the appropriate term, doesn't it? It has the appearance of having been eaten or nibbled away at.
scan This one was 300 , when I go 600 it takes forever so I dont do them often but when I do do 600 I don't have any problem uploading them.
I have several dollar's worth of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters that look even worse than that. They came out of the drain traps from a laundry mat that was in business for 10 years or so. I know I have some pennies that could win an UGLY coin contest!!
This is a copper-plated zinc cent. These could be "popped blisters" caused by subsurface corrosion between the copper plating and zinc core. Or it could simply be post-strike damage with subsequent corrosion of the exposed zinc.
