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Need Some Education On My 1991 Lincoln Memorial Cent, Is It Zinc Rot, Lamination, Finger Feeder?

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CCB420's Avatar
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 Posted 04/25/2025  07:21 am Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add CCB420 to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
So picked this one out roll hunting yesterday and tossed aside after noticing the line going through Lincoln's face. My first thought was zinc rot, but then I saw what happened up around the U in trust, that looks like some sort of lamination. But then if you notice the rest of the fields, it looks like someone just rowed up their garden, about to plant in those fields? Is that also zinc rot, in straight, almost patterned lines, or something else? I'm not well versed on roller lines, finger feeder damage and the like, so any guidance on this would be greatly appreciated!

Also, I wanna apologize again about the lines in my digital microscope, still can't figure out what is causing, but hopefully I have clear enough pics to show the full effect, as it's proven difficult for the pics to really capture just how raised those lines appear in hand!






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Spence's Avatar
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32967 Posts
 Posted 04/25/2025  07:32 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Spence to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Maybe there is a tiny die crack from the rim through the letter U, but the bulk of that looks like a linear plating bubble to me.
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CCB420's Avatar
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 Posted 04/25/2025  07:39 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add CCB420 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks for the input Spence, again I wish I could get a better pic of that area, but to me it looked like the playing was overlapping around that U, more like a lamination, but let me see if I have a better angle
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Dearborn's Avatar
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 Posted 04/25/2025  08:44 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Dearborn to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
roller lines, linear plating bubbles that are following the roller lines.
the one over 'Trust' looks to have cracked open.
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CCB420's Avatar
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 Posted 04/25/2025  09:24 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add CCB420 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
So now are linear plating bubbles and zinc rot basically the same thing?
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fortcollins's Avatar
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 Posted 04/25/2025  10:10 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add fortcollins to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
So now are linear plating bubbles and zinc rot basically the same thing?


Here's the best explanation I can offer. Others may have different or better explanations for it, and my explanation and a dollar may get you a half cup of day old gas station coffee, so take it with that caution.

IMHO, they are a little bit different and may result from the same events, but at different lengths of time after minting.

Zinc rot is subsurface corrosion, caused by something that interacts with the zinc itself over time, and pushes the plating up after the coin is struck. In other words, whatever interacts with the zinc isn't by itself making what we see, but the eventual interaction of that substance with the zinc damages the zinc core itself, causes it to expand, and results in the ugliness we call zinc rot. The rot seems to appear on coins that have circulated for some time and also on coins that have been exposed to heat or environmental damage after minting. Environmental exposure includes the Katrina coins and Harvey coins, which were exposed to the toxic soup of the flooding in those hurricanes, and then acid-washed to be put back into circulation.

The plating blisters of all types seem to be caused by gas bubbles. Exactly how and when in the process those bubbles develop is a good question. The bubbles seem to appear on fairly freshly minted coins, so they either could be earlier results of what becomes zinc rot or something completely different. ARTAZN's plating method is a trade secret, so one of the guesses is impurities in the preparation of the core for the plating.

Your coin has a bubble / blister that hasn't ruptured. Other coins have ruptured bubbles.

That's the best I can add to this.
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Errers and Varietys's Avatar
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 Posted 04/25/2025  12:02 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Errers and Varietys to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Linear Plating Bubble, Roller Lines, and a possible Die Crack.
Errers and Varietys.
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jbuck's Avatar
United States
162571 Posts
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CCB420's Avatar
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584 Posts
 Posted 04/28/2025  06:19 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add CCB420 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks for that explanation fort Collins! I had no idea I had my own fort, misspelled my name though, only one "l" in mine!!

So I went on the mint's site to look for some videos on roller lines, along with any other visual aids to the plating process during minting, any good links available to that kind of information?
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