Lincoln has a bad case of acne

[HobBob]

Hello all,
Came across a penny this evening that has a number of craters on the obverse. It appears as if the zinc has bubbled up underneath the copper coating and erupted to the surface. The copper flanks of the craters are distended outwards, as if the zinc pushed up through the copper.

The reverse of the coin has a few smaller craters.
See below - what the heck is it? A defective or corroded planchet?

Thanks,
Bob

 

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[hollowpointred]

thats the way those crappy zinc pennies disintegrate when they have been in the ground a little while.eventually, they waste away to nothing.

 

[HobBob]

It doesn't appear to me that this one has been buried. The ones I have dug up have a "dirty" appearance covering the entire coin. This one still has some mint sheen to it.

 

[hollowpointred]

i dunno, in my opinion it looks like it might have been tumbled.

 

[HobBob]

Thanks for looking hollowpointred. Happy new year!

 

[hollowpointred]

you too hobbob!

 

[SteveDodds]

This type of error is a coin struck on a bubbled plating planchet. It is defined as:A coin struck on a plated planchet or one punched from plated coin metal strip which exhibits bubbles or raised areas of the plating where gases were trapped during the plating process, showing on the struck coin as bubbles or small areas of raised metal.
Often caused by excess amounts of dirt on the planchet before minting.
U.S. cents struck since 1982 on bubbled, copper plated , zinc planchets are too common to have any value.

 

[Mike95inNJ]

Zinc pennies are the devil....
Cyas, Mike

 

[HobBob]

Thanks Steve for the info! I have come across pennies with lamination errors before, and I have seen a few with enclosed blisters, but this is the first one I have seen with open, ugly wounds. :P
HH and Happy new year,
Bob