Strange 2005 Proof Cent

Russellhome

I just received a few 2005 proof sets from the mint. One of the sets has a proof Lincoln Cent that kind of looks like a snow globe. There are thousands of little copper bubbles and nuggets all over the surface of the coin (more on the obverse than the reverse). It some spots, it looks like copper plated sand paper. Any ideas what caused this? Does this type of error have a name?

BuffaloIronTail

What you see are gas bubbles trapped beneath the copper plating. They are a planchet defect that the mint had big trouble with when the new zinc cents arrived in 1982. Most early date....1982, 83 especially, and 84 cents have this problem.

The mint got a handle on the problem, but every now and then it will still show up.

Hope this helps.....

Pete

nankraut

I would send that back for a replacement.

Russellhome

If this were a 2005 Legacy Collection set (and they were still available), perhaps I would. But this is in a basic clad set and it actually looks more interesting than the photo shows. I'd be willing to bet it would sell on eBay for a few bucks, maybe more. So I think I will keep it.

But FYI: in the same shipment I got the clad proof set, I also received 3 Silver Proof sets I'd ordered. Two out of the 3 Silver Proof Sets had coin damage, each having a very nasty scratch on one of the state quarters. I am sending those back.