7/19/18 Report - Some Things You Should Know About Coin Collecting.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

2000 D Zinc Penny

You'd think that metal detecting and coin collecting would go hand in hand, but there are reasons that they don't go together as well as you might think.

Here are a few things I've become more aware of in the past month or so since I began looking through modern coins for errors and talking with some serious coin collectors.

1. Coins found in the ocean are very often too corroded or deteriorated to show errors or other important features.  I  knew that before, but after looking through a lot of modern coins I developed a better appreciation for small differences and how easily they can be masked or removed.  Even if a coin is a rare doubled die coin, that might not be visible if the coin has been affected by salt water or otherwise corroded.

2.  Condition is so important to coin collectors, that even if you find a real rarity, poor condition can reduce the value to almost nothing.  Many dug coins are simply not in good enough condition to demand good premiums even if they are rare.

3.  Valuable coins are rare.  That is obvious enough, but it is worth stating.  You can search through many coins and find many interesting things, but real valuable finds are very rare.

4.  Everyone hears about doubled-die coins, but there are many types of doubling on coins and the coin collecting community is not interested in most of them.  It is not easy for a beginner to distinguish between some of the types of doubling that they will see.  I do not find it easy to distinguish between some types of machine doubling and doubled die errors.

5.  Coins that have circulated are similar to coins that are corroded.  Many of the signs that coin collectors look for can be obliterated by the wear and damage.

6.  It is not always easy to distinguish between damage done by individuals after the coin went into circulation and mint errors. For example I ran into one copper penny that evidently was reduced by acid at some time for some unknown reason.  At first it simply looked like a weak strike.  After some detective work, it was concluded that it had been reduced by acid.

7. Many things that a coin collector looks for requires magnification.  There are many small but important features that aren't easily seen by the naked eye.

8.  I would not plan on saving zinc pennies for my children or grandchildren.  Pennies that are almost new and shown little or no wear are corroding.  You know how badly zinc pennies corrode on a beach, but pennies that have scarcely seen the light of day and show signs of beginning zinc rot.

The penny at the top of the post is a 2000 D.  There is very little evidence of wear.  Look at the surfaces.  They aren't smoothed out, and there are few scratches, yet zinc rot is beginning.

Spots of Zinc Rot Beginning On 2000 C penny.

I don't know the history of this coin, but I've seen some that are only one or two years old, and in my opinion were never on a beach or anything. and they are developing zinc rot.

I'll turn this same coin over and you can see how zinc rot develops.

Same 2000 C Coin.

It seems that zinc pennies are going to rot in most cases, even if they have been treated well.  That is why I would never collect zinc coins with any long term expectation.

I've seen newer coins than the one shown above with even worse zinc rot.

9.  There is a lot to learn if you want to become a serious coin collector - especially one that collects errors or varieties.

If you want to collect sets or if you buy coins it should be considerably easier, although it still helps to be informed so you can avoid being misled by unscrupulous dealers.

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There is nothing of significance going on in the Atlantic right now.

We have a two foot surf, and will have for a few days.  The tides are more moderate than they were a few days ago.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net