Hello everyone I just joined for my 11-year-old daughter she recently got into coin collecting mostly just pennies. Today she found today A 1991 penny and asked me what The marks on the penny would be called and what would cause them and I don’t know anything about coins or collecting them. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you ( if I posted in the wrong place I’m sorry let me know and I will delete the post)
It's just Circulation damage. The Copper Plating was compromised. Just little holes and plating bubbles. You can't delete a thread once it is created. Welcome to CoinTalk!
Collecting is a wonderful way to bond with your kids and I applaud you for it! Not much of a spectacular find here I am afraid. Since 1982 cents have been made of zinc with a very thin copper coating. The flaw in this design is that zinc deteriorates rapidly and often we see it as a pockmarked cent..... Wish I had a more spectacular story for you to keep your daughter interested!
In the artsy world kids will use coins to make crafts. Sometimes they'll use a tack/nail to try to punch a hole in them with or without a hammer device ... not knowing how hard that is. I taught my kids to use a drill. That one hole in the mouth (and the others) appears to be squarish, which is reminiscent of a common nail's tip. So .. expect to see potmarks on coins. It's just damage from an unlimited reasoning of uses. Of course zincolns just kinda explode and eat themselves too.
Welcome to the neighborhood, Katrina! Personally, I hate the "Zincolns" so much so that I usually refer to them as Crappy Zincolns, but I don't think it would be a good idea for your daughter to use this descriptive. Chris
Damaged as stated. Welcome to CT. If you encourage her interest in coins the enjoyment both of you receive will be a reward which only you can describe:
