Another Zinc. Hopefull

The project is a count of dates and mints - the coins that have already rotted to nothing won't be there to count, so in effect yes...it does include a count (the absence of coins to count) for environmental damage. Those coins that are currently damaged like the original coin in this post won't be around in two years to go through the count again...so they won't be counted then.

I figure the longevity of the average zinc cent to be around 10 years, but many of course last longer than this. Thing is, who knows how many more would be out there in circulation if they were not corrosive?

The count is beginning to show the difference in that there are already higher totals for 1980 and 1981 cents than there are for 1983 or 1984 cents. Given normal attrition this should be the other way around, but beause the 1980 and 1981 cents are made of a copper based metal and the 1983 and 1984 cents are made of corrosive zinc, the 1983 and 1984 cents have gone away faster. I only have totals for just over half a dozen groups of coins - my figure is that by the time I get 100 groups accounted for, we will see much higher survivability for 1975-1981 cents than for 1983-1988 cents - just because of metal content.

Thanks Coppercoins- that is exactly what I was wondering. Given that we can still find coppers at least 50 years old still circulating , I wondered how long the zincs would last. I wonder how they will fare in collections over the years. Do you think even MS coins could deteriorate to that extent (ok, not that badly ) under normal environmental storage in a tube or 2x2 for 75 years ? I think the bubbly cents of the mid eighties might get bubblier...