1992 Nmm Cent With Speckels On Lincoln

They look to be plating bubbles...which add no premium to the coin.

These are actually split plating issue. Someone took a straight pin and pierced the metal.

This allow the zinc to get get oxygen. When this happens the zinc underneath begins to start rotting. Thus the sinking below the fields. We see this a lot on the reverse of coins on these Memorial cents on the USA, the building and other smaller areas.



This is never a good thing. It is a countdown of the last days for a coin until it eventually all just goes away and begins to look like a discarded copper colored Hershey's kiss wrapper. (This take a long time, but an eventuality for the coins with this issue) On the obverse, it is most on seen on the SE direction on the mintmarks.


CoopHome: What causes the zinc cents to develop a sunken area on the fields and designs on the cents? split plating is the opening of the plating that allows the zinc to get oxygen. this starts zinc rot. this a not a collectable, but a death sentence for these coins. so if you are buying a variety coin, make sure the mintmark area is not affected. if so then it can become a problem coin to sell later on.

when buying coins, always look for the problems some coins may have and look for the better die state examples. I feel in the future these will be of more demand than the extreme worn die states.