1987 Lincoln Cent question 1 1

[Tmoney11]

In looking at this 1987 Lincoln Cent (not using penny any longer thanks to educational process… thank you fellas) what is the reasoning behind this mint mark and what you see around it? Die chip/crack?

Edited June 17 by Tmoney11

[Greenstang]

That is a plating bubble that has broken exposing the zinc core. Soon the zinc will start to rot from being exposed to the air. This is quite common on zincoins. Split plating will also give a similar result.   
Glad to see you are using the correct terminology. Your on your way to becoming a Numatist.

[Coinbuf]

Greenstang is spot on, plating bubbles are common on the zinc core copper plated cents.   Once those bubbles are compromised or "popped" the zinc core will begin to corrode very quickly.

[Tmoney11]

Cool and thanks fellas! Also side note what have you found to be the best way to find errors if you’re looking. Is it to see weight first on every coin or visually inspecting. I have been visually inspecting with joy but wondering if this is best approach. 

[Henri Charriere]

On 6/17/2024 at 1:28 PM, Greenstang said:

.... Your on your way to becoming a Numatist.

[ What you wrote, above.

What you meant:  "You'RE on your way to becoming a NuMISmatist. ]    

[Greenstang]

The best approach is to first learn what an error is. An error can only occur during the striking of the coin at the mint.   
Once it is ejected from  the striking chamber, anything that happens after that is damage. Also you need to know how coins are produced at the mint. At the top of this forum there is a thread called “Basic Resources and Glossary”.that has many good websites with information on the mint and what to look for in errors. It will also help you in distinguishing the difference between a variety and an error. If you get a scale, get one that reads to at least two decimal points and no, it is not necessary to weigh every coin. It takes a lot of studying and experience to find true errors don’t expect to learn overnight.   
Also despite what you see on the internet, there are very few errors to be found in the wild. You might be better to just start a collection and learn as you go.

[Greenstang]

Thanks for the correction Henri, I should have proofread it first, I hate making spelling errors.

[Sandon]

On 6/17/2024 at 3:37 PM, Tmoney11 said:

what have you found to be the best way to find errors if you’re looking.

   In reality, by far the best way to find significant mint errors is in the inventories of coin dealers who offer them for sale. It is extremely unusual to find significant mint errors or any other valuable coins in circulation, notwithstanding the disinformation peddled on certain websites to the contrary.

   In 53 years of collecting coins and checking change, the best pieces I've ever found are a blank cent planchet and a couple of broadstruck quarters, each worth at most a few dollars.  One may also find such minor "errors"--more accurately, quality control issues--as coins struck from filled or misaligned dies or with die chips or cracks, which have little or no collector value. I know only one collector who ever received a significant mint error in change, a cent that had been overstruck by nickel dies, subsequently certified by NGC and probably worth a few hundred dollars. 

   Most of the significant mint errors on the market are in uncirculated grades and were intercepted by bank or counting house personnel and sold to coin dealers before reaching circulation. Some of the most exotic errors (such as the State quarter/Sacagawea dollar "mule" coins) were even created and smuggled out of the mint by unscrupulous employees.  In 2002 the U.S. Mint instituted procedures to prevent errors resulting in misshapen coins, such as off-center and multiple strikes, from leaving the mint, and very few have been discovered from since that year.

   I'm not saying that you should stop looking carefully at your change or weigh 1982-D Small Date and 1983-dated cents looking for extremely rare transitional wrong planchet errors if you consider this worth your time.  (Most circulating coins with weights that would be outside mint tolerances would be due to thin or thick planchet stock, another quality control issue of little value.) Just don't expect to find anything significant. The best coins you might save from change are those handed to you from fresh, uncirculated rolls that have minimal marks, good strikes, and brilliant luster.

[Coinbuf]

On 6/17/2024 at 12:37 PM, Tmoney11 said:

Cool and thanks fellas! Also side note what have you found to be the best way to find errors if you’re looking. Is it to see weight first on every coin or visually inspecting. I have been visually inspecting with joy but wondering if this is best approach. 

I do not roll search nor do I search for or collect errors, none of that holds any interest for me.   While it is possible to find some minor errors in circulation from time to time, the real truth is that your time would yield a higher return if you used your time to get a second job at 7-eleven then sitting for hours searching for unicorns.   But I get that some enjoy the thrill of the hunt and would rather do that, so all I can say is to echo much of what @Greenstang wrote.   If you don't know how coins are made and by extension how errors happen, you will just waste a ton of time on worthless minutiae.   Without the required knowledge it is really like looking for the Titanic but starting your search in the Gobi Desert.   That doesn't mean that you cannot find some minor errors or variety coins, the occasional minor clip or strikethrough can be found in change or roll searching.   But these seldom translate to any significant find or value.

Perhaps it would help you to know that most of the major error dealers have connections with the mints and the companies that process and transport the coins to the regional fed depository and then to individual banks.   Most major errors are caught by the machinery that counts and rolls coins, those are then sold off to the dealers that those individuals or companies have affiliations with.

Most of the roll searchers that I know search for silver, finding an error or variety is more like a bonus then the end goal.

[RWB]

Might be called a "cent zit."

[powermad5000]

Hello and welcome to the forum!
 

I have a different take on what happened with your cent here. I think it took a pretty good hard hit below the mintmark at some point, severe enough to expose a little of the zinc core beneath the copper plating which allowed for the environment to begin to attack the reactive zinc core and begin the process of environmental damage to it. Once this process began to take place underneath the copper plating (corrosion), it caused the plating to bubble up in that area and the cent is at the level it is sitting at now. I see what I believe to be a hit under the D.

There is no fix or conservation practice that can reverse or stop this process. 

[VKurtB]

On 6/17/2024 at 3:19 PM, RWB said:

Might be called a "cent zit."

And is, in my house.