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Poison Pennies - 1943
RWB
Posts: 8,082 ✭
1943 zinc-steel cents:
“It took only a few weeks for public objections to the new zinc coated steel cent to begin. A common complaint was that they were too much like a dime in color and people confused the two coins. Transit companies griped that the cents were caught by magnets within their equipment and rejected as steel slugs. On April 7 the mint tried coating blanks and finished coins with a chemical film called “Cronak” This was a hexavalent chromium solution that the mint hoped would give steel cents a golden or iridescent brown color. Other chromate materials such as “Iridite” were also tried, but failed because they wore off quickly or were poisonous.”
[Excerpt Coiner to Democracy draft v10, p.360.]
Imagine the consequences of coating 1 billion zinc-steel cents with poison.
“It took only a few weeks for public objections to the new zinc coated steel cent to begin. A common complaint was that they were too much like a dime in color and people confused the two coins. Transit companies griped that the cents were caught by magnets within their equipment and rejected as steel slugs. On April 7 the mint tried coating blanks and finished coins with a chemical film called “Cronak” This was a hexavalent chromium solution that the mint hoped would give steel cents a golden or iridescent brown color. Other chromate materials such as “Iridite” were also tried, but failed because they wore off quickly or were poisonous.”
[Excerpt Coiner to Democracy draft v10, p.360.]
Imagine the consequences of coating 1 billion zinc-steel cents with poison.
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Comments
Lance.
<< <i>Wasn't hexavalent chromium what the Erin Brockovich story was about? Nasty stuff!
Lance. >>
Yes.
death-link
<< <i>Yep...all $33 million of it. >>
Not even close!
The case was settled in 1996 for US$333 million, the largest settlement ever paid in a direct action lawsuit in US history.
<< <i>
<< <i>Wasn't hexavalent chromium what the Erin Brockovich story was about? Nasty stuff!
Lance. >>
Yes.
death-link >>
Or maybe not
None were mentioned as having been put into circulation. The main concern for the mint was that the blanks stuck together due to the coating. The Bureau of Standards prepared a report which discussed wearing characteristics, but said little about toxicity.
Antimony and magnesium coatings were also tried, but did not darken the cents as much as the mint wanted.
Copper coated steel was tested but the plating was too electrically active, and the copper bubbled and peeled after striking.
TD
Why dump them? Could not these have been used for scrap?
<< <i>This reminds me that I need to write that article about coin swallowing. >>
Id be interested to read that , ive long figured zinc in any coin a hazard.