Lincoln cent, black die around mint mark. What is it?
bernardhempfling
Posts: 18 ✭
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bernardhempfling
Posts: 18 ✭
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Thanks in advance for your input and teachings.
The black appears to be thinking of corrosion. It does look like a repunched mintmark. What year is the coin?
Edited to add: since it's a 1989, it can't be an RPM. So it is just zinc rot
Zinc is corroded where exposed by a break in the copper plating. Not an RPM.
Maybe. I can't tell from the photo if that line is actually raised or not. It does look like a later date "D" which is why i asked for the coin's date.
Agree that it is not easy to tell whether the area in question is raised or not... appears to me to be an area of the exposed zinc of a modern day zinc cent that is commonly seen.
Zinc is very chemically reactive and starts to change rapidly when the air hits it. That is why pure zinc is inappropriate for for coinage.
Hope this helps. I could not get a better angle on the 'D' to tell whether it is raised.
@jmlanzaf, @tincup, @BillJones. Thanks for the input.
Machine doubling which scraped away the copper and exposed the zinc?
looks like split plating exposing the zinc core.
No added value, just part of the mintimg process.