1996 Zinc penny

[him]

Does anyone know the mintage quantity of Zinc pennies from 1996? I don't see any information relating to it.

[Bill in Burl]

I don't think that zinc cored cents (copper plated) were started until 1997. If you have one, is it round or 12-sided?

[him]

It is 12 sided and looks just like any other 1996 penny stamping, but a little thinner.

[Bill in Burl]

How do you know that it's zinc? Is the plating coming off?

[him]

There is no plating...

[him]

The penny is actually in the most amazing condition. I have never seen any coin better. The one next to it is a North Bay Ghost error in the range of MS66 with slight discolorations and has nowhere near the clarity of the 1996.

[him]

I truly don't know whether this coin is Zinc or struck on the wrong planchet. I will do a proper assessment by weight to find out. This version is not that noticeably thinner.

[la cenne]

I have a piece struck on a $2 core planchet that looks a bit like this.

[Bill in Burl]

Zinc should have no coppery tone/tint to it. I just think that the copper plating wore off or had improper adherence to start with. I think that it was part of the 1997 copper-plated zinc strips that got put into the stamping machine and turned out 12-sided planchets of the wrong alloy.

[him]

I would like to point out that I have had this coin since 1996. It is likely to be MS68 or 69. I am wondering if the copper tones were transferred to it from the die. I only noticed the copper coloring in photos, but not with the naked eye. I think I should weigh my other 96's while I'm at it...

[Lightw4re]

I disagree with MS68-MS69.

And it's easy to plate a 1-cent coin to make it looks like silver/grey tone. I saw a lot of this kind of coin before.

[him]

I disagree with MS68-MS69.

And it's easy to plate a 1-cent coin to make it looks like silver/grey tone. I saw a lot of this kind of coin before.

And what are you basing your assumptions on?

[Lightw4re]

Your coin was probably modified with tin or mercure. I suggest you to weight it, and scratch a little part to see the real color.


Here's some similar coins.

[him]

[quote="Lightw4re"]Your coin was probably modified with tin or mercure. I suggest you to weight it, and scratch a little part to see the real color.


While there is a possibility that the coin was tampered with, I suggest you scratch your head when telling someone that it's a good idea to devalue their coin by defacing it.

[Lightw4re]

Your coin just looks like many other silver colored 1-cent coins that I saw. You can look at the diameter of the coin too. Here's a 1 cent struck on a 10 cents planchet.




But looking at your picture, I'm 98% sure that your coin worth and will still worth 1 cent before or after scratching it.

My two cents.