weak strike 1988 D penny? update: pretty much the beach glass of pennies 1 1

[polarprints_ak]

I thought it was just wear damage at first, but the Lincoln memorial is still pretty well defined and the rims show no sign of wear. 1988 pennies are also zinc, so I would expect to see the zinc showing through, not to mention the luster is pretty clean and it barely has a scratch on it. Did i actually find something cool?

Edited September 7, 2023 by polarprints_ak

[powermad5000]

Hello and welcome!

Unfortunately, I see a combination of a lot of wear, plating bubbling issues, and environmental damage. I am not sure where you are getting that this has good luster as I have included a photo of what this cent should look like from the NGC CoinExplorer page for it. Keep looking though! 

 

[polarprints_ak]

On 9/6/2023 at 8:38 PM, powermad5000 said:

Hello and welcome!

Unfortunately, I see a combination of a lot of wear, plating bubbling issues, and environmental damage. I am not sure where you are getting that this has good luster as I have included a photo of what this cent should look like from the NGC CoinExplorer page for it. Keep looking though! 

 

I'm still pretty new to this, my apologies. I'm just confused as to why the rim seems to be fully intact with a few dings and "IN GOD WE TRUST" is completely nonexistent, and why is there no zinc showing? With this degree of wear, I'd expect to see zinc exposed. Also, on the reverse of the coin, the low areas are more worn than the high points, I'm genuinely confused as to how this happens.

[powermad5000]

The rims are formed in the upsetting process and are the strongest and thickest part of the coin. The rims are meant to help try to protect the actual details of the coin itself from wear. Even on coins that grade as AG or Poor will still have some rim left even though the coin itself is basically worn down smooth.

If this coin were weakly struck, the image of Lincoln would also be weak and lack detail if it truly were a weak struck specimen with the lettering and date on the rest of the coin that faded, but that is not the case here. Lincoln's bust image, while worn, is still strong. As to how the lettering is more worn than Lincoln's bust image, this coin could have been struck from late stage dies (meaning dies that are already overused and overworn out). This was common for this to happen as the Mint tried especially with amount of Lincoln cents being struck to extend the life of the dies and strike as many coins as possible from one set of dies before stopping the process and changing them out for new ones. Typically, on worn dies, the spaces in the die that the metal flows into during the strike are larger than normal on worn sets from overuse so you will get weaker lettering on the outer edges of the coin as there is simply too much space in the worn dies for the metal to flow into resulting in a normal looking Lincoln bust image but weaker lettering towards the edges of the coin. On severely worn dies for Lincoln cents you will see the lettering itself having moved outward towards the rim and the tops of the lettering all the way against the rim. Then as the cent begins to wear from circulation, some of the edge lettering can be quite faded or non existent from years of circulation wear. Note on your cent how the L in LIBERTY is almost gone, but the rest of the letters (IBERTY) are still visible from the strike.

For a coin to have wear so significant to get beyond the plating itself and back down to the zinc planchet, I would think it would be worn to the point that all you could tell about it is that it was a cent. There would be no detail. Even well worn specimens of these cents will be brown in color or sometimes black. One could make a scratch in the coin to expose the zinc planchet underneath, but these are usually deep scratches to achieve this. The plating is put on the coin through an electroplating process. There were several issues with the plating from 1982 to the late 90's and early 2000s (from cracking, to bubbling, to linear plating bubbles appearing as long lines, to plating flaking off). This plating when it adhered to the surface of the struck coin properly, can withstand much circulation and abuse without showing the actual zinc underneath. 

On the reverse of your coin, I see some parallel lines especially in the area of where E. PLURIBUS UNUM should be above the memorial. These minor scratches obliterated the lettering as well as part of the roof of the memorial and the center of the steps of the memorial. There is also the same problem of overused dies on the reverse as the lettering on the outside of the reverse is not as strong as it would be but the memorial itself seems to be well struck. You can also see this in ONE CENT on the reverse as the tops of the letters are quite clear but there is fading at the bottoms of all of those letters. Once again, circulation wear exacerbated the weaker edge lettering towards the rims on the reverse just like it did on the obverse. It is difficult to tell how some coins get their damage, but the reverse of this coin has some physical damage as well as some good hits down in the open field above ONE CENT. The coin you have also was subject to some kind of environmental damage as the coin looks brown on the obverse and the look of the brighter plating on the reverse. 

There is no need for apology here, btw. Some of these things take a long time and the right people to come along to understand. I have been collecting for 45+ years and I know a lot, but I still don't know everything. Your photos while they could be a little more cropped to show less of the background and more of the coin itself were good enough for this topic and better than some we get on here so good job there. And, while some of the members on here can be "short" or "gruff", combined we all will try to help someone who has a question and we will give you the honest truth, so I hope you return if there is anything else you would like to know or have a question about.

I am sure there will be a few others who will also comment behind me, and I hope I helped you understand a few things here.

[polarprints_ak]

On 9/6/2023 at 9:43 PM, powermad5000 said:

The rims are formed in the upsetting process and are the strongest and thickest part of the coin. The rims are meant to help try to protect the actual details of the coin itself from wear. Even on coins that grade as AG or Poor will still have some rim left even though the coin itself is basically worn down smooth.

If this coin were weakly struck, the image of Lincoln would also be weak and lack detail if it truly were a weak struck specimen with the lettering and date on the rest of the coin that faded, but that is not the case here. Lincoln's bust image, while worn, is still strong. As to how the lettering is more worn than Lincoln's bust image, this coin could have been struck from late stage dies (meaning dies that are already overused and overworn out). This was common for this to happen as the Mint tried especially with amount of Lincoln cents being struck to extend the life of the dies and strike as many coins as possible from one set of dies before stopping the process and changing them out for new ones. Typically, on worn dies, the spaces in the die that the metal flows into during the strike are larger than normal on worn sets from overuse so you will get weaker lettering on the outer edges of the coin as there is simply too much space in the worn dies for the metal to flow into resulting in a normal looking Lincoln bust image but weaker lettering towards the edges of the coin. On severely worn dies for Lincoln cents you will see the lettering itself having moved outward towards the rim and the tops of the lettering all the way against the rim. Then as the cent begins to wear from circulation, some of the edge lettering can be quite faded or non existent from years of circulation wear. Note on your cent how the L in LIBERTY is almost gone, but the rest of the letters (IBERTY) are still visible from the strike.

For a coin to have wear so significant to get beyond the plating itself and back down to the zinc planchet, I would think it would be worn to the point that all you could tell about it is that it was a cent. There would be no detail. Even well worn specimens of these cents will be brown in color or sometimes black. One could make a scratch in the coin to expose the zinc planchet underneath, but these are usually deep scratches to achieve this. The plating is put on the coin through an electroplating process. There were several issues with the plating from 1982 to the late 90's and early 2000s (from cracking, to bubbling, to linear plating bubbles appearing as long lines, to plating flaking off). This plating when it adhered to the surface of the struck coin properly, can withstand much circulation and abuse without showing the actual zinc underneath. 

On the reverse of your coin, I see some parallel lines especially in the area of where E. PLURIBUS UNUM should be above the memorial. These minor scratches obliterated the lettering as well as part of the roof of the memorial and the center of the steps of the memorial. There is also the same problem of overused dies on the reverse as the lettering on the outside of the reverse is not as strong as it would be but the memorial itself seems to be well struck. You can also see this in ONE CENT on the reverse as the tops of the letters are quite clear but there is fading at the bottoms of all of those letters. Once again, circulation wear exacerbated the weaker edge lettering towards the rims on the reverse just like it did on the obverse. It is difficult to tell how some coins get their damage, but the reverse of this coin has some physical damage as well as some good hits down in the open field above ONE CENT. The coin you have also was subject to some kind of environmental damage as the coin looks brown on the obverse and the look of the brighter plating on the reverse. 

There is no need for apology here, btw. Some of these things take a long time and the right people to come along to understand. I have been collecting for 45+ years and I know a lot, but I still don't know everything. Your photos while they could be a little more cropped to show less of the background and more of the coin itself were good enough for this topic and better than some we get on here so good job there. And, while some of the members on here can be "short" or "gruff", combined we all will try to help someone who has a question and we will give you the honest truth, so I hope you return if there is anything else you would like to know or have a question about.

I am sure there will be a few others who will also comment behind me, and I hope I helped you understand a few things here.

Awesome information, I appreciate you taking the time to explain all this. Like I said, I'm new to this and it's amazing that there's somebody willing to take the time to help me learn. You're awesome and thank you. I did find a war nickel and eight Wheaties today at least

[EagleRJO]

On 9/7/2023 at 1:43 AM, powermad5000 said:

The rims are meant to help try to protect the actual details of the coin itself from wear

And also to make them stackable.  Good info and analysis of the worn and damaged cent.