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Evaluating 1982-D Large Date Zinc Lincoln Cents - grading help? Cladking?
jmski52
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Back in 1982, my bank gave me some bright 1982-D Lincolns in change and it was right about the time that Coin World had a big article on the different varieties that were being found that year. When I figured out which ones I had been given in change, I went back to the bank and bought 33 rolls of them. I took them home and carefully transferred them into plastic rolls for posterity using cotton gloves.
As I remember, a great many of the coins had bubbled surfaces from the poor plating job at the Mint and some of them had small blackish rinse spots. The only other detail I recall from then is that many or most of the "D" mintmarks had "slid" when struck and exposed a small sliver of zinc on the side of the "D".
During the intervening years, I think that I only opened one of those rolls to inspect the top coin and then I pretty much forgot about them. Finally, a couple years ago I decided to look at the coins and to my dismay I found that many of them had some corrosion spots from the original residues that must have remained on the surfaces from the Mint's poor rinse job.
Quite a few of these coins have a "bubbled" surface from the poor plating job, in fact it's more prevalent than the ones that don't. Anyhow, I went through the rolls at that time and culled all of the really bad corroded or spotty coins, leaving me with about 12 rolls. I sold 5 of them on ebay and now I have 7 rolls left.
So today I started screening them to see if any of them need to be graded, and it appears that it is going to be harder than I thought. There are different types of flaws and I'm not sure how to prioritize which is better or worse from a grading standpoint. To summarize:
1) The easiest detraction to gauge are the small marks.
2) There are bubbles - many that are still "sealed" and original with their own kind of interest. (The ones that have exposed zinc are generally corroded and the coin is ruined.)
3) There seems to be a common flaw that I would ascribe to die ejection or something during the manufacture. Lincoln's shoulder often seems to have "rub" on the high points, such that the plating is either dulled or shows evidence of light abrasion. Yet, these are definitely original coins. I don't know if that's a deal-killer for grading. Some of the coins with nicer surfaces in the fields and on the other main devices have that situation as the main detraction.
4) There are some coins that look pretty good with even luster and few marks except that the plating is lighter (slightly dull and a little pink) in some of the raised areas. I don't know what to make of that.
5) It's interesting to see some die cleaning brush marks on these. It's not much of a factor, but it's there.
The MS-67 and MS-68 coins are definitely worth trying to find. I just don't know how much of a shot I have with my little hoard.
Question - is anyone here acquainted with some of these problems with the early Zincolns and how these things affect a potential grade? Or will I just need to submit a few and see what happens?
As I remember, a great many of the coins had bubbled surfaces from the poor plating job at the Mint and some of them had small blackish rinse spots. The only other detail I recall from then is that many or most of the "D" mintmarks had "slid" when struck and exposed a small sliver of zinc on the side of the "D".
During the intervening years, I think that I only opened one of those rolls to inspect the top coin and then I pretty much forgot about them. Finally, a couple years ago I decided to look at the coins and to my dismay I found that many of them had some corrosion spots from the original residues that must have remained on the surfaces from the Mint's poor rinse job.
Quite a few of these coins have a "bubbled" surface from the poor plating job, in fact it's more prevalent than the ones that don't. Anyhow, I went through the rolls at that time and culled all of the really bad corroded or spotty coins, leaving me with about 12 rolls. I sold 5 of them on ebay and now I have 7 rolls left.
So today I started screening them to see if any of them need to be graded, and it appears that it is going to be harder than I thought. There are different types of flaws and I'm not sure how to prioritize which is better or worse from a grading standpoint. To summarize:
1) The easiest detraction to gauge are the small marks.
2) There are bubbles - many that are still "sealed" and original with their own kind of interest. (The ones that have exposed zinc are generally corroded and the coin is ruined.)
3) There seems to be a common flaw that I would ascribe to die ejection or something during the manufacture. Lincoln's shoulder often seems to have "rub" on the high points, such that the plating is either dulled or shows evidence of light abrasion. Yet, these are definitely original coins. I don't know if that's a deal-killer for grading. Some of the coins with nicer surfaces in the fields and on the other main devices have that situation as the main detraction.
4) There are some coins that look pretty good with even luster and few marks except that the plating is lighter (slightly dull and a little pink) in some of the raised areas. I don't know what to make of that.
5) It's interesting to see some die cleaning brush marks on these. It's not much of a factor, but it's there.
The MS-67 and MS-68 coins are definitely worth trying to find. I just don't know how much of a shot I have with my little hoard.
Question - is anyone here acquainted with some of these problems with the early Zincolns and how these things affect a potential grade? Or will I just need to submit a few and see what happens?
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I knew it would happen.
I knew it would happen.
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<< <i>There seems to be a common flaw that I would ascribe to die ejection or something during the manufacture. Lincoln's shoulder often seems to have "rub" on the high points, such that the plating is either dulled or shows evidence of light abrasion. Yet, these are definitely original coins. I don't know if that's a deal-killer for grading. Some of the coins with nicer surfaces in the fields and on the other main devices have that situation as the main detraction. >>
I believe that these are just areas where the planchet striations survived a strike that wasn't hard enough to erase them.
Steve
My Complete PROOF Lincoln Cent with Major Varieties(1909-2015)Set Registry
<< <i>
Question - is anyone here acquainted with some of these problems with the early Zincolns and how these things affect a potential grade? Or will I just need to submit a few and see what happens? >>
I don't know much about it. The early years are awful. I can't seem to find more than
a handfull of nice attractive gemmy specimens before 1985 even in mint set. Many people
are having better luch and finding coins that grade pretty high but I suspect most of these
have poor surfaces and plating issues. Finding them clean isn't the issue but rather findiong
them with smooth surfaces and no bubbles and exposed zinc. Exposed zinc seems to rust
in the long run.
Of course the primary concerns of the services is that a coin is clean and has no corrosion
or unsightly toning, rinse spots, or haze. They tend to be very forgiving of strike and die
issues until the highest grades are reached.
So far as I know they are relatively forgiving of plating problems but this is outside my area.
The fact that so many early issues are graded suggests they aren't very concerned with mi-
nor bubbles and flakes.
As bad as the zincolns are with the majority in circulation having stains and corrosion and
even collector issues having so many problems these are far better than I'd have predicted
back in the early days. It's a wonder the services have anything at all to grade from '82
and many later dates are actually common in superb Gem.
Submit 5 best ones and you will find what to do with rest. Good luck!
That's my general plan. Thanks!
I believe that these are just areas where the planchet striations survived a strike that wasn't hard enough to erase them.
I never thought of that, but it sounds like a distinct possibility. I'll take a closer look.
You could look at some of the Regustry sets with photos. All in all graders are positively brutal on zinc Lincoln's and you may find 65 is as good as mostly all are.
Good idea! Thanks!
Sounds like you spent $16.50 with the bank back in 1982 to get the rolls. I don't know how you made out with the Ebay rolls but Brol's suggestion sounds good if you want to invest in slabbing and shipping. From what you say, I don't see this hoard as any kind of an investment.
Steve
Oh, I agree. But since I've never tried to grade them, it's worth taking one good look to see if there's a chance at a $100 or a $1,000 coin. I just need to get it done before I forget to do it.
cladking, thanks for chiming in. I can tell you one thing. When I culled out 60% of these coins a few years ago, it was interesting to see how many had gone bad, even after being handled cleanly from Day 1.
I've found some really wonderful examples of evenly-distributed bubbling underneath a fine looking and uniform luster. Could these be graded as MS-68 "Bubble Finish"?
I knew it would happen.
<< <i> When I culled out 60% of these coins a few years ago, it was interesting to see how many had gone bad, even after being handled cleanly from Day 1.
>>
I keep wondering how there can still be some in circulation when the BU's won't
even last. I suppose a little circulation combined with a little oil from hands once
in a long while can help protect them a little.
It's almost an "experience" anymore to even touch pennies since they look so aw-
ful.
The 3 tough rolls are SD-P zinc, SD-P copper, LD-D zinc, the other 4 types are much more common.
Those rolls should get a decent premium from people trying to put together sets of the 7 types.