I recently went to my bank(a locally owned bank) and cleared them out of rolled pennies. They only had a total of 34 rolls and I brought them home and ripped them open. Many of the pennies I find have particular, as I would describe, what looks like someone was strategically placing some kind of chemical on lettering, the bust, the date or the mintmark. I wonder if someone is trying to run a con or if it's just someone who works with a lot of grease. I also noticed a lot of hype about Toned coins and would like to know if there are con men who use unnatural ways to tone coins. Thanks!
Were the Cents costumer rolled? It's hard to tell. I don't think someone is trying to create a con job as you call it. There are dozens if reasons why the coins look the way they do. I started to roll up metal detected environmentally damaged Cents so to get rid of them. They look awful but they are still Cents. But I am not trying to con anyone.
Probably just ran into a bunch of circulated "Zincolns" - copper plated zinc cents. Most get pretty ugly looking after awhile.
I was just referring to people who intentionally damage coins to sell for a premium to unsuspecting collecters.
You have no way to prove this allegation JUST BECAUSE you found so many lousy coins in those rolls. Have you ever considered that they might have been "reclamation" coins from a wishing well? There are companies that contract with shopping malls to remove the coins on a regular basis, but before they can re-enter circulation, they must go through several stages of cleansing. Chris
