Rotting coinage

[mikeraydj]

As I metal detect I see how our coins now will never survive like the coins of the past. You can find a mercury dime and it still looks almost as good as it was when it was minted. Clad on the other hand starts to decay almost as soon as it is dropped. I am afraid that a whole lot of history will be lost because we make coins that have no longevity. Coins have worth because they have beauty, metals that last the test of time, and worth. I am afraid that there will be nothing for future detectorists to find as money now expires. Very sad.

 

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[dirtlooter]

yes it is sad indeed, i keep my very toasted zinc and worthless pennies to show those who ask. i have one bottle with two to three hundred of them, all in various degrees of decay. most look like someone had dribbled acid over them and as you show them the pennies, they are horrified that it happens so quickly. i often compare it to the value of the endless supply of paper money being printed as quickly as possible. i didn't know what to think about the first ones that i had dug up like that, was it from heavy machinery? naw, just cheap material made money. just another reason to value the things of the past. i dig them anyways because i just want to make sure that i am not passing something up that is actually worthwhile. but each of those zincs represent a wasted dug hole. at this point i still dig almost everything except iron if i can help it. we pretty much live in a disposable world as most of our trash proves.

 

[DDancer]

Well I'm sure the government cant have us getting rich on the pennies of the past and would rather the people enjoy their junk money. Eventually someone will get the bright idea of downgrading all our pocket change to unsalvageable junk. Much like paper don't ya think? *pops and umbrella* hehh

 

[Jason in Enid]

It's not just the US cents that do this. Many other countries use iron based coins with a very thin nickle cladding. Those suffer the same fate as zinc cents.

 

[BigWaveDave]

the best coins we dig, the silvers and old coppers, their mintage was a fraction of the billions of coins that are being minted today. If future detectorists only detect clad and corroded zincs, that only means that we rockstars here on Tnet already got the good stuff

 

[Dave Rishar]

The debasement of a nation's currency is nothing new. The Romans, both as a republic and (especially) as an empire, were notorious for it. Even when things were good, the coinage wasn't worth face value. When they were bad, laws were necessary in order to get people to accept the currency at its face value and people still wouldn't do so. Thankfully our republic hasn't fallen quite so far yet.

Yeah, those zincolns will eventually rot away - the sooner the better if you ask me. The dimes and quarters will eventually dissolve as well, but I'd expect that to take a very long time. Both the cladding and the core are pretty resistant to decay as such things go. Note that nickel and copper only have a 0.05V difference on the anodic index, meaning that galvanic corrosion essentially will not happen under nearly all conditions. I'll agree that that nickel cladding can look like hell after even a few years under the right conditions, but I'd expect those coins to still be reconizable as coins in a century or more - probably more. Nickels, being made of a cupro-nickel alloy, ought to last damned near forever in most soils.

I think that people will still be digging coins up a few generations from now. They will have little value as bullion, but they may still have numismatic value.

 

[Jason in Enid]

The debasement of a nation's currency is nothing new. The Romans, both as a republic and (especially) as an empire, were notorious for it. Even when things were good, the coinage wasn't worth face value.

Didn't they start out with silver coinage and continually decreased the percentage of silver until it was something like 5%?

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Dezincification. It's what kills ship's brass and valueless currency.

 

[rwd mo]

As I metal detect I see how our coins now will never survive like the coins of the past. You can find a mercury dime and it still looks almost as good as it was when it was minted. Clad on the other hand starts to decay almost as soon as it is dropped. I am afraid that a whole lot of history will be lost because we make coins that have no longevity. Coins have worth because they have beauty, metals that last the test of time, and worth. I am afraid that there will be nothing for future detectorists to find as money now expires. Very sad.

I was told by a banker u could take the zinks to a bank and get junk price (1/2 cent) for each penny but when I did they wouldn't take them so I buried them in quart jars in my back yard to check my cache detectors. each quart jar holds 900 pennies as I have ran about 150$ worth thru them coin machines and now I got about 500 more to run thru. rwd mo

 

[: Michael-Robert.]

As I metal detect I see how our coins now will never survive like the coins of the past. You can find a mercury dime and it still looks almost as good as it was when it was minted. Clad on the other hand starts to decay almost as soon as it is dropped. I am afraid that a whole lot of history will be lost because we make coins that have no longevity. Coins have worth because they have beauty, metals that last the test of time, and worth. I am afraid that there will be nothing for future detectorists to find as money now expires. Very sad.

Still plenty of lost treasures out there.

 

[Boatlode]

If the Fed keeps printing money, they will start making coins out of plastic.

 

[mikeraydj]

I think we should produce coins that have beauty and longevity. If they cost more to make, then make $5, $10, $20, and $50 coins. But out of precious metals.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Don't they already do that with proof and collector sets, Make better coins? Just not for us peons to use.

I have a collection of corroding zincs also.
Does any body know what we can soak them in to stop the corrosion process so they don't keep disintegrating ?

Ya they will probably use plastic for the coins, and out law metal detectors. They are kind of aiming to get us all to use plastic cards, thus bye bye money. What better way to get rich, they won't have to print money, you just have a plastic card and they tell you what it's worth and they get their share every time you use it! It's like charging money every time someone takes a breath.
I would like to see the coins better made, but I doubt that is gonna happen, lest not for general use.

There's something special about finding old coins, you feel connected with the past when you pick it up and hold it, you wonder who held it last and what life was like. It 's a calming experience...unless you realize you just found a rare key date coin...then things get a little crazy and you start doing your own version of the happy dance!

 

[Dave Rishar]

Didn't they start out with silver coinage and continually decreased the percentage of silver until it was something like 5%?

Something like that. Then copper began to circulate more widely, and then the copper got smaller. Toward the end there (circa 300-400 AD), those little coppers were significantly smaller and thinner than a US dime, and the artwork on them really was generally atrocious. It unfortunately reminds me of our own coinage in some ways.

I think we should produce coins that have beauty and longevity. If they cost more to make, then make $5, $10, $20, and $50 coins. But out of precious metals.

The US government would dearly love to replace bills with coins, which is why they're still pushing those $1 coins that consumers still refuse to use. Coins are significantly less expensive to mint than bills are due to longevity, but they just don't seem to catch on in America. If it's bigger than a quarter, Americans want nothing to do with it. It's a bit of a shame really, as using higher denomination coins wouldn't just benefit the government, but it would also benefit us detectorists as well. I'd be pretty damned happy to dig clad if it was worth $5 per coin!

There won't be a return to coins made of precious metals that are meant to circulate. Even in America's relatively short history, there are numerous instances where fluctuations in the price of metal made coins circulate oddly or not at all, or get melted down, or leave the country entirely. A good example of what can happen when coins are minted of metals and are valued (at least in part) on the intrinsic value of that metal can be seen in US silver coins, copper Lincolns, and nickels - if the value of the metal suddenly goes above the face value of the coin, melting and hording stop the circulation of the coins, invalidating the whole concept of money in the first place.

Put another way, if we c even mint cupronickel coins without people melting them down when metal prices shifted (in the case of the nickel, where a law was required to discourage people from melting them down and/or exporting them), minting them out of noble metals, for the purpose of circulation, is probably impossible. It's a different world.

I totally agree with you in concept though. I look at these new presidential dollar coins and the state quarters, and then I look at liberty and Barber coins and...I don't know. The art on the new ones seems a bit cartoonish to me. That art on the Barbers and the liberties looks like art in the classical sense. A coin certainly doesn't have to look nice to do its job, but it's a matter of pride, isn't it? I just don't feel all that proud about modern American coins.

I have a collection of corroding zincs also.
Does any body know what we can soak them in to stop the corrosion process so they don't keep disintegrating ?

Zincoln disintegration is caused by galvanic corrosion. Removing the electrolyte (in our case, water with impurities added) should stop the process, but that may be difficult due to the porous nature of the rotted zinc inside and humidity in the air and such. A soak in distilled water and then a forced drying in an oven should end it, or at least slow it way down. Packing them in an airtight container with sufficient desiccant packets should work at least as well and is probably easier.

Agreed on opinions about plastic coins - the smaller denominations (cents, and probably nickels as well) should have gone to plastic years ago. There's just no way to make a metallic cent for less than a cent these days, and nickels aren't far behind.

 

[mikeraydj]

I submit to you that there is nothing wrong with coin value using precious metals. The problem is that people are over valuing their goods and services. So, say a burger joint sells a burger for $1. But one dollar silver coin went up in value 15 cents. Then you should still get 15 cents change. So I am saying an economy based on precious metals lowers the values on goods and services when the price is high, and increases their value when metal prices are low. The worth of a product should change rather than the currency. It is a truer indicator of our economy. You are backing it with something that is real, rather than something that is based on the feelings and confidence of others.

 

[Dave Rishar]

I submit to you that there is nothing wrong with coin value using precious metals. The problem is that people are over valuing their goods and services. So, say a burger joint sells a burger for $1. But one dollar silver coin went up in value 15 cents. Then you should still get 15 cents change. So I am saying an economy based on precious metals lowers the values on goods and services when the price is high, and increases their value when metal prices are low. The worth of a product should change rather than the currency. It is a truer indicator of our economy. You are backing it with something that is real, rather than something that is based on the feelings and confidence of others.

The value of precious metals, regardless of its history, is based on the feelings and confidence of others. You can't eat gold...well, you can, but it won't provide nutrition. You can't make weapons from it. You wouldn't want to build a plane or a ship out of it. It would make pretty good shingles for a roof, it's nearly ideal for dental restoration, it's useful for electrical contacts that are at risk of corroding, and it's pretty. That's about it. Only about 10% of annual gold consumption is industrial in nature and I'm honestly surprised that the number is that high. So why is it so expensive? Why do we value it so highly? Not for its industrial applications, but because it's pretty and we've all agreed that it's worth a lot.

 

[Moresound]

Money should be made out of what you need.

I just blew my mind.

 

[bigfoot1]

coinage schmoinage.Future finds are gonna be awsome as long as rap stars keep investing in rap stars.With any luck at all this will spread to the general population...lol

.. .. ...

 

[Msbeepbeep]

I know right! I'm just waiting for one of them to lose one of those chains so I can find it! Lol!

 

[Frankn]

Hay wait a minute !
Here is a golden opportunity. With all the zincons rotting away, You should be saving good speciments.
The more that rot away will add value to your prime collection. When you get those shiny new ones in change seal them away for future profit. Also stash the new shields. Think about it! Frank...-