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Some of the zinc pennies I come across while sorting sure have deteriorated in their short life span. The copper pennies from years past hold up so much better. I took samples from a box of pennies I sorted today to show what I mean.

2004-D
Sure I saw a few 2004-D's in the box that were cleaner and shinier than this one but it is pretty common to see zincs looking like this or far worse.


1974-D
Here's one that goes back another 30 years. Look at that nice copper. The other 1974-D's from the box were more brown than this one but look how well this one has held up all these years.


1944-S
Going back another 30 years and the copper pennies are still pretty solid (ok, this one is extra nice but imagine what the 2004-D will look like in another 60 years. )


Now if only I had found a 1914-D or 1914-S in the box to continue my comparison...

p[anned obsolescence.. you should see zincs found while metal detecting... and saltwater destroys them..

I find it amazing how 30 and 40 year old coins look like they were just put into circulation. Because of the soil where I live the zincs I find when metal detecting are frequently only a partial coin as much of them have been eaten away.

I live in the rust belt, and I like picking pennies up off the ground, however.. After a car has run over a zinc penny in the parking lot a few times, and the salt we put on the roads starts eating away at it .. I won't pick it up. Occasionally, when sorting I would throw a penny right into the trash.

I've dug at least 2500 pennies this year. The zinc ones come in all shapes...except round! I'm lucky to have 3 different types of coin machines at my dump banks. I've learned which machine will take what kind of damage. I think i've had to toss out 3 or 4 half-eaten ones and that's it. I've been using the metal detecting finds to use as search money at the banks. ALL PROFIT....including the zinc pennies that everyone likes to throw away!

My brother swears cashiers save the worst looking pennies to give him in change. Well as a joke last Christmas I got the Whitman dateless Cents folder and filled it with the nastiest, dirtiest, corroded zinc pennies I could find some had 1/4 of the coin missing. The funny thing is it didn't take any time at all to collect this pile of corruptness from hand sorting.

BTW it was a great joke and everybody laughed as I explained to my brother that to collect these I simply would explain to cashiers that these were for ----- ------ and trade them a good penny for some they had saved for him!