Saving Zinc Lincoln Cents In Rolls

I have so many times seen how some like to save solid date rolls of coins in their original paper wrappers. I even know one person who is attempting every date and mint mark to save only in Loomis wrapped rolls. I can tell you in fact, that this is a fools errand. Paper rolls are not a good storage option long term for Zinc Lincolns. You cannot see inside the rolls and all it takes in one coin with a plating issue to start to bleed and infect the entire roll. Take my word for it. I have been working on rolls of 2009 cents since they were issued and already the infection is occurring. Even on some rolls of 2015 cents. While I am not saying not to collect your coins in any fashion you wish, I am saying that you will almost, with certainty, find a very nasty surprise somewhere down the road. Best to get them into plastic tubes so you can monitor any changes over time.

 

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I'm afraid to even stabilize zincolns in acetone before storage in tubes. But I do.

Another thing I do is inspect the coins for plating issues. If there are breaks in the plating I just assume they'll rot and ruin ones next to it too.

 

An acquaintance of mine stored his crappy Zincolns in the clear plastic tubes with a screw cap. To his dismay, he discovered that some of the coins had corroded and he couldn't get them out of the tubes. Finally, he had no choice but to crack the tubes open with a hammer.

Chris

 

I have two 100-count small cent tubes, two 100-count nickel tubes, one 100-count dime tubes, and two 100-count quarter tubes. I am close to needing another dime and quarter 100-count boxes. When those boxes of tubes get filled with coins it is heavy. When I fill a tube I usually go back through the coins and only keep the best. I like tubes for my circulating coin hoarding. Keeps everything organized.

 

I do that too. Try to keep the contaminants down.

 

I have about 400 - $2 rolls of nickels that I store in 20-roll and 50-roll boxes. The 20-roll boxes are heavy enough, but I need a shopping cart to haul the 50-roll boxes around.

Chris

 

Maybe be better to use the square tubes. They seem to have a touch of play in them. The real task is going through them first to check for problem coins before storage.

 

I haven't seen him for quite a while. However, I don't need to worry about them because I don't save them.

I HATE CRAPPY ZINCOLNS!

 

Let me tell you what I was storing a whole roll of 1943's in the paper wrapper Bad Bad idea They all turned white and are almost unsaleable for a cent a piece.

 

I like hunting rolls so naturally if I see someone at a show with rolls I always take a look. Most of the time the cents in the tubes are nice and red and the roll enders are usually heading towards red/brown or are just brown. Makes Sense @tommyc03 ! (I still like to hold on to the rolls with a bank name on them.)

 

Do you have any large dollar rolls from the Carson City State Bank?

Chris

 

Hmmmmmm...... let me go check! LOL.

 

This might sound crazy but I have stored pennies in cloth bags for over ten years with no affect. I have just put then in plastic tubes the begining of this year! Did I make a mistake? .

 

This is an interesting thread. I have a whole box of 2014 cents from when I first started collecting and CRH. For some reason I thought I should save them. I just came across the box recently. Interesting to hear about what could happen in the rolls. Wonder what I would find if I open them...

If someone wouldn't mind clarifying, why does a plating issue cause disease to spread? And what disease is it spreading?

 

The Penny Flu. Smiles!

 

I do just the ppposite. I just save the coppers. I toss them in a drawer in my desk with the intention of rolling them at some point

 

If there is a crack in the plating, the zinc becomes exposed to it's surrounding conditions. The zinc then starts to bleed out, exposing the surfaces of the good coins, beginning the zinc rot. I first noticed this on the edges of some of the coins after emptying them from the rolls. Further inspection showed zinc migrating to the surfaces in the fields on the obverse and reverse. Mine have all been stored properly with not too much humidity, heat, cold, etc. I can't tell you the chemical process but maybe someone here can. As Chris mentioned earlier, maybe the cheap styrene tubes are not a good idea. I'm using the polypro square tubes and I'm not sure if this will work long term either. The main object is to get the bad cents away from the good ones to begin with. A daunting task. In the end, I fear these will not last long in any environment. Most of the cents in my collection that are zinc have already toned so, I really do not see anything good coming long term from any of these. I'm just glad I've decided not to continue with my cent collection and just finishing up my ATB quarters and then I'm done with modern issues.

 

Tony, I don't think there is any good, long term definitive answer to this. The earlier issues were loaded with massive bubbling problems and we even see these today with long linear plating issues. I just think, the way that these are made that they will simply not stand the test of time. The plating is so thin to begin with and the Mint has never found a way as of yet to correct the plating problems as can be evidenced by finding any number of these with plating blisters still happening. It's going to be interesting, say 10 years down the road how these have survived in albums, their original packaging and in slabs. Only time will tell.

 

I liked on this because I think it is a bad idea for long term storage in paper wrappers. Sorry to hear that happened with yours but it is a good warning for others. Many I had saved from the 60's survived just fine and in fact, some had beautiful toning going on. But from 1982 on I have found little to a lot of rot in many rolls. So, even buying original wrapped rolls is a chance one will be taking, buying and storing this way.

 

Here are two recent examples from fresh solid date rolls as an add to my original post.