Whats Your Worst Zinc Penny

coinman123

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Feb 21, 2013
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What's Your Worst Zinc Penny

Zinc pennies are one of the biggest nuisances to metal detectorist, chances are you probably have a bad one, so why not see how bad some of them really are?

I have found a few bad ones, such as a zincoln with over 75% of the coin eaten away, it's in the shape of a "U"! I will try to get pictures, right now it's in my clad bag.
 

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I have some really bad ones that are just crumbs but don't have pics of them, these I cleaned recently.
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The coins far right bottom are the zinc core only no copper left on them.
 

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My worst zincoln was so disintegrated that it didn't give a signal and I didn't find it. :tongue3:
 

I usually end up just throwing them away, unless I think they can go through a CoinStar. What do you guys do with the crusty corroded ones anyway? Can you turn them into a bank?
 

I throw the crusty ones in the trash.
 

When coin star rejects them I will include them in my change then spend them at stores, so far no refusals .
The ones that are in pieces I'm going to glue on something to decorate it.
 

In the last few years before we discontinued our clad penny in Canada, it was basically made of the same junk, and rotted the same way. Hopefully in a few more years these corroded chunks of hell spawn will have vanished.
 

The worst Zincolns are the ones that I put in my Whitman blue book 25-30 years ago in mint condition, and have since begun to corrode. I hadn't looked athem in 20 years, then I was like WTF!!!:BangHead:
 

I usually end up just throwing them away, unless I think they can go through a CoinStar. What do you guys do with the crusty corroded ones anyway? Can you turn them into a bank?
I roll them up and tell the bank they are bad.The bank told me no problem they send them in and don't use them in their trays .
 

I roll them up and tell the bank they are bad.The bank told me no problem they send them in and don't use them in their trays .
Thanks. I think I will start doing that. It's better than throwing away money!
 

I roll them up and tell the bank they are bad.The bank told me no problem they send them in and don't use them in their trays .

Thats the Best bet. Ive looked into sending them back to the mint, But the hoops you have to jump thru and paperwork, its better to let the bank do it
 

The worst Zincolns are the ones that I put in my Whitman blue book 25-30 years ago in mint condition, and have since begun to corrode. I hadn't looked athem in 20 years, then I was like WTF!!!:BangHead:

I have to admit, that's ironic.

I know of people who put silver eagle bullion coins in coin folders, and a year later they are brown with tarnish. This is not the nice natural toning, if you send them to a grading company, they would come back as "Artificially Toned"
 

My worst zincoln was so disintegrated that it didn't give a signal and I didn't find it. :tongue3:

Probably in 50 years, every zincoln dropped between 1982-2014 would have disintegrated and be part of the dirt. LOL
 

Probably in 50 years, every zincoln dropped between 1982-2014 would have disintegrated and be part of the dirt. LOL

seems like a great plan from our Gov...they already made paper money, why not make money that denigrates too!...Which is Why im huge on giving that shiii back to them
 

no way to pick just one

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I wish I would have taken a picture when I dug it up, but I dug one on a freshwater beach that was a concrete like mass of sand. It was definitely what the detector was reacting to, and I was thinking there was a lead fishing weight in the middle of it or something. So I broke it apart, only to find a penny inside, now in 3 pieces.....
 

Take your pick.

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What's the years on those really bad ones?
 

AM87- I still have one encased in sand like concrete.
As for a readable date the really bad ones aren't readable too corroded. Most are probably dated after 1982.
Some of mine are in bits and pieces or just the black zinc core, no copper left at all. Those I think I'm stuck with.
 

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