1991 cent problem

Discussion in 'Error Coins' started by Joe kool, Oct 21, 2019.

  1. Joe kool

    Joe kool Active Member

    20191021_083325.jpg 20191021_083358.jpg can someone explain to me what's going on with the obverse of this coin? Is it a badly broken die? Does anyone see anything else that I may be missing? I dont think its PMD. But I'm not that good. Thanks in advance
     
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  3. Randy Abercrombie

    Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

    I am not a post-1982 Lincoln expert and if I am wrong, I apologize..... I have seen cents with this appearance. I personally attribute this to a bubbling up of the thin copper layer. See the zinc core acts as an anode on these cents so the copper layer almost becomes a sacrificial lamb to the zinc core. They are prone and extremely susceptible to all manner of surface oddities. I fully suspect that in fifty years zinc core Lincolns will be quite rare simply because they are prone to and will deteriorate over time.
     
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  4. paddyman98

    paddyman98 I'm a professional expert in specializing! Supporter

    Simple answer.. Plating bubbles. That's all!
     
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  5. Islander80-83

    Islander80-83 Well-Known Member

    Here's another example @Joe kool I don't recall seeing many the past year or two. Maybe they fixed the problem?

    S20160203_001.jpg S20160203_003.jpg S20160203_002.jpg S20160203_005.jpg
     
  6. cpm9ball

    cpm9ball CANNOT RE-MEMBER

    It's just one of the reasons why I call them Crappy Zincolns!

    Chris
     
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  7. Collecting Nut

    Collecting Nut Borderline Hoarder

    Plating blisters or bubbles. The coin is Zinc and coated with a very thin layer of. Copper.
     
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  8. Joe kool

    Joe kool Active Member

    Very informative. Thank you! I totally lost my mind and forgot they were zinc coins covered with copper. Do people buy these. I think its ugly!
     
  9. cpm9ball

    cpm9ball CANNOT RE-MEMBER

    Only bidiots!

    Chris
     
  10. Collecting Nut

    Collecting Nut Borderline Hoarder

    Only on eBay
     
  11. Joe kool

    Joe kool Active Member

    Guess I might put it on sleezebay
     
  12. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww...wash your hands after handling them, they might have some kind of pox..... naw, just plating blisters. WHY ARE OUR CENT COINS SO UGLY?
     
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  13. Mike Thorne

    Mike Thorne Well-Known Member

    I had an '84 doubled ear Lincoln that I found in my wife's change. It was certified with a grade of MS64 red. I finally decided to sell it many years later and found that almost no one wanted it that I offered it to at an ANA convention in Rosemont. While talking to one dealer, he told me about this plating problem and sure enough, my coin had some surface bubbles I hadn't noticed. I finally "gave it away" relative to its then wholesale price but was glad to get rid of it. Given how little I had in it (1c plus low certification costs), I still made a handsome profit off a coin that was coming apart!
     
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  14. Kevin Mader

    Kevin Mader Fellow Coin Enthusiast Supporter

    Those Zincolns are terribly unstable for the long haul. I would hope that once in a slab, it's largely 'frozen in time'. But...
     
  15. Collecting Nut

    Collecting Nut Borderline Hoarder

    But that ain't happening. ;)
     
  16. DEA

    DEA Well-Known Member

    My memory isn't what it used to be and in forty years I've forgotten more stuff than I can remember [sorry], however, I vaguely recall an experiment I did for science class when I was ten or eleven or twelve. I had a chuck of copper connected to a voltmeter's roach clip immersed in water (plain tap water); probably the positive pole. I had a chunk of zinc (I bought at the "science and stuff" discount store on Layton Avenue) connected to the other voltmeter roach clip, immersed in the same water (a small fish tank or maybe some sort of glass bowl used normally in the kitchen). The voltmeter reported current between the nodes - the one with copper and one with zinc. There was perhaps a quarter to half foot separation between the two metals. The water in Milwaukee was pretty dense with chlorine (one could smell it) but the water was clear and healthy (as far as I know). So, all that to say, putting zinc together with copper seems a very foolish plan, or even ignorant. Using zinc seems even more silly when one considers the use of zinc in coinage in the past - by poor nations, or defeated and desperate governments.

    Goodness. What a rant. I'll stop now.

    Best,
    David
     
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  17. ldhair

    ldhair Clean Supporter

    This is a fun one.
    Image_0762.jpg
     
  18. Mike Thorne

    Mike Thorne Well-Known Member

    Mine was in a slab, but it wasn't "frozen in time."
     
  19. Cheech9712

    Cheech9712 Every thing is a guess

    Where's the duck
     
  20. Cheech9712

    Cheech9712 Every thing is a guess

  21. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    Hiding for Halloween while I do a Doug impression.
     
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