Zincoln Cents Deterioration

Once the bond with the copper (which protects the zinc) becomes compromised, it's only a matter of time before the Zincoln becomes ugly and vanishes.

They remind me of when I change zincs on a boat thats been in the salt water.

I find it interesting that the ratio of copper to zinc is steady in circulation even as people are pulling out copper and the mint adds 8 billion zincs per year.

It seems cent use is crashing and velocity must be getting close to zero. But then this means all the zincs should be recent date and this isn't really true. Maybe a proper study is indicated.

I guess I better save some nice 82 and newer cents, they will be rare after a few yrs of aging. I have found alot of the modern coinage that does hold up that well. The clad does best

I bought some gold $`s from the bank at face and several looked bad. The dates and motto on the edge are worn? or weak strike or gone or never was there. I think that they should have left them where they have been previously, with reeded edge. I needed to have a glass to tell the dates and m/m. Someones great idea. SBA and Ike do well but the gold issues are already coroded or discolored hwere they wouldnt look good in any collection.

yes , another interesting thing to know would be : are the observations of high % of copper pennies region specific ?
A few months back someone here posted here saying in their area they weren't seeing many copper pennies somewere around the south west......

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.