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 Replies: 13 / Views: 2,536 |
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New Member
United States
37 Posts |
My brother brought me someones coin collection that he found in an abandoned storage building. I found this, going through the steelys. One side looks nice, the other is covered with pits. I know its of no value, just curious what would cause this. Has anyone seen this before? The photos don't truly show how nice and shiney the obverse is.   |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Pitting from rust - basically just worth face value.  to the CCF! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1427 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19215 Posts |
Not zinc rot--not on a '43 steel cent.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1658 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10635 Posts |
I agree, no way there is zinc rot... there is no zinc in it! The reverse was subject to environmental conditions, namely wet or moist conditions resulting in rust and corrosion. If the obverse is super shiny, it could have been plated at some point in it's life. We see more plated than unplated steel cents here, or so it seems. And you are correct, the harsh reverse destroys and value it may have had. Keep searching, keep asking questions!  p.s.- With future posts, please crop your photos to the edges of your coin. Thanks. edit: I should have said there is no zinc rot showing in these photos, it's only rust corrosion (the red-brown colour). Edited by merclover
12/15/2020 8:41 pm
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
Quote:
there is no zinc in it! So this is not a zinc coated steel cent ?  |
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Pillar of the Community
2145 Posts |
Well seeing it's zinc plated then I guess there is no zinc IN it - there is zinc ON it -  |
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New Member
 United States
37 Posts |
I know its of no value. Just curious to what could have made it. If it has been plated, they've done a spectacular job as it looks like in came straight from the mint. Ive got probably 20 of these and you're right half have been coated with something. They almost look like a galvanized nail or something. Lol. Will they rust without looking like rust? Could it be a really good plating job gone wrong?
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New Member
United States
37 Posts |
This pic shows the reflection of my finger to show you how shiney.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10635 Posts |
I misspoke about not having a zinc core. My bad. The general easy way to tell if your steel cents are plated or not is in the shininess... plated will be very shiny, whereas true unplated steel cents will be a duller grey colour. Plating covers every little detail and adds very little weight, but they will be ultra shiny. |
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Pillar of the Community
2145 Posts |
Quote:
I misspoke about not having a zinc core. They did not have zinc cores. The blanks were punched from a sheet of zinc plated steel. Here's an outake from an internet article about steel cents......... Quote:
A Flawed Manufacturing Process by the U.S. Mint:
To help the war effort by eliminating copper from U.S. pennies, the United States Mint came up with a new metallic composition for the one cent piece. They decided on using steel for the base metal and plating it with pure zinc. Unfortunately, zinc oxidizes over time and turns into a dull and dark gray color.
Moisture came in contact with the coins as they circulated in commerce. The moisture caused the zinc coating to turn to an ugly blackish color. As the zinc coating wore off the steel core the exposed steel underneath began to rust.
The manufacturing process for producing the planchets was also flawed. Mint workers first rolled a sheet of steel to the proper thickness. Next, the steel sheet was plated with zinc and passed through a blanking press. The blanking press punched coin blanks punched out of it. The manufacturing process resulted in bare steel exposed on the edge of the coin. As moisture attacked the edge of the coin, it would rust regardless of the surface condition of the rest of the coin. |
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New Member
United States
37 Posts |
Thanks for the info. Didn't realize that all should be dull. I love steelies. Trying to learn as much as I can on them.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5786 Posts |
In your last image, notice the reflection of the woven fabric on the edge of the coin. This edge should not be reflective at all and will have the steel core exposed, usually with rusty streaks showing.
There shouldn't be any original zinc coating on this edge since the blanks were punched out after the plating was applied.
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Replies: 13 / Views: 2,536 |
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Posted 12/15/2020 4:52 pm
