2002 Severely Damaged Cent!



Zinc Heart (far left) ~ Zinc Sheep (middle) ~ Zinc Foil (far left)

What a beautiful coin (not)! If you stick a post-1982 American Cent on a stove this will likely be the result. Since zinc melts at 787^oF or 419.5^oC it is likely the zinc melted and since the copper is so thin and there is much more zinc than copper it is likely the zinc began to expand and/or boil and burst through the copper. Now that it is in this state it is most likely not spendable 1.) Because it does not clearly feature the issuing country or denmination and 2.) Because more than half of the country still thinks "pennies" are 100% copper. I can't believe they've managed to perpetuate this myth since the 1800's. It's a bit ridiculous.

By the way those zinc figures were completely accidental and I was planning on throwing them away but I may keep them. Who knows maybe I'll need some scrap zinc in the future. Or maybe I can sell them as art. Hmmmm...