Zincoln Cents Deterioration

Conder - to your point, I picked up $30 copper dump (teller said the total dump was close to $100). I held copper for a bit while I tried to look for varieties, but little-by-little, I returned the copper back into circulation.

Hi Gary - it's good to have a helper around to confirm varieties. My son and daughter will occasionally oblige. Otherwise, I use a magnifying lamp to roughly identify a variety and then confirm it with a jeweler's loop.

Zincolns have many interesting (and sometimes valuable)varieties. This is where it gets challenging: finding one in great shape and likely to withstand the 'elements'.

DaytR - I recall something of that. Copper/Zincoln ratios are relatively steady, but I've gotten a case of significantly higher Coppers (44%) and another in the low 20%s. But on average, around 15 Coppers per roll. When %s are higher, better LWC action. Lower, better Zincoln Varieties hunting. So I'm generally pleased either way.

Sadly, Zincolns from car cup holders are nasty little beasts!! Wont clean up and make some decision making difficult. Do you keep a variety with soda damage? Or toss it back to the wild to disintegrate? Really cruddy ones get passed over without a look. Marginal coins though - usually get a second glance. But is a 'marginal' save worth the squeeze or will it disappear anyway? I try to imagine what a Zincoln will look like after another 30-40 years. An 80 year old Copper vs an 80 year old Zincoln. What a picture!

If it is determined that a large amount of Zincolns are disintegrating, wouldn't make sense to change the composition back to copper since it lasts a great deal longer and less would need to be minted? This is outside the argument of a cent costing more than a cent to make ect.

Because changing back to copper would mean greater cost losses, and the cents would disappear from circulation and have to be replaced anyway. The major loss of zincolns from circulation isn't because of them corroding away, it is because the cent has such little value that no one carries or uses them. For the most part the cent is a one way one use item. The Mint makes them, ships them to the Fed/armored car service, they go to the bank, then to the merchant, then to the customer as change, who then throws them in a jar where they sit for years or even decades. In the meantime the Mint has to replace them for the next cycle the following year.

The economy isn't growing at a pace where they need another six billion cents each year just to keep up. They need another six billion to replace the six billion they struck last year which are now sitting in jars all over the country and not circulating. Most people don't realize how few coins have to be put aside as keepsakes, in jars, or lost to wipe out the entire annual Mint production. Four coins per week, per household. (or one coin, per person, per week) You put aside ONE roll of cents, and that is your entire coin production allowance for the whole YEAR.

So if you are making cents that are going to just be doing a one way trip anyway, it makes more sense to make them out of the cheapest material possible, especially if you are going to be losing money on each one anyway.

Yeah , that sounds like a great potential opportunity in the making

Zincolns were designed for one use only.

In my opinion they are capable of re cycling, and perhaps that should be what happens to them.

How many members of the Public just let them accumulate at home, just to be sent back to the bank in bulk?
Not very efficient for a working coinage.

Well struck gem uncircluated Zincolns are only comparatively rare against other zincolns. In an absolute sense they cannot be rare, when 6 billion of them are struck every year.

Which is a good thing, since that is how billions of them are used each year.