corroded zinc pennies

[kingingkunsan]

I dig zinc pennies every so often and some of them are quite corroded. Some to the point where almost half of the coin is gone. Can i still turn these coins in for their cash value? what do you do with them?

 

[DirtAngler]

I toss mine in the garbage.

 

[MarkCZ]

I toss mine in the garbage.

Stink'en Zincon's LoL!
Exploded Zinc'ons gets trashed (play money)

I don't think they have any scrap metal value either?

Mark

 

[Flintstone]

Hi King, I have told alot of people that i take mine to the bank and tell them that it is US coins and they take them and send them back to the Mint. I don,t think people believe me but i have turned in 100.00s of dollars worth. I save them till i get about $50.00 or $60.00 worth and take them in. Your money, do what you want. Good Luck Flintstone

 

[kingingkunsan]

I think I am with Flintstone on this. It may only be pennies but throwing away money seems obsurd. I currently have about $5 in corroded zincs. They are going to the bank. I will let ya know what comes of them.

 

[Ism]

Credit unions won't take them, told me I needed to send them back to the treasury for a refund. Can you imagine the postage on that?
I still have them in a huge jar. Haven't tried the bank yet.

 

[scubadetector]

I have NEVER found a bank that will take them. They also have absolutly NO obligation to take them. Want to see what they are made of? Take a nice shiny one and hold it with a pair of pliers on the edge. Heat it with a blow torch and drop it. You will see how thin the copper coating is and the rest is tin. Looks like a glob of solder when it hits the pavement.

Save up 50.00 in corroded penny's? Thats FIVE THOUSAND. Somebody is finding way too many penny's.

 

[Rob (IL)]

After my coins are run through the counter my bank gives me replacements for any that didn't go through.

 

[Flintstone]

Hi Ism, You can,t take them to a small bank or Credit Union, You must take them to a bank that dose enough business that they have large amounts of money. What do you think they do with dollars that are taped, or discolored, they return them to the Treasury. At my bank i must roll them, yes even the half one, and write on the roll that they are bad, not to be passed out for change to business's. After they get so much they send them along with other bad money to the Treasury. A small home town bank don,t do enough to mess with them. I hate the darn things, but if you don,t dig them you lose alot of good targets.I got tired of digging them and my friend came behind me and hit a penny sig. and he took it, yes it was pennies 4 Wheat,s and a murk dime in a little cloth bag of some kink raped up. So you never know. Good Luck Flintstone

 

[pasttom]

I never verified it but I was told that you could only take or send them to the Philadelphia Mint.
Tom (w/ a small fortune in zinc left where it could easily be stolen)

 

[Tin Fin]

pasttom,

Good idea, put all my lawn-mower chopped up zinc finds in a jar on the front porch so someone will steal them...

So far, what I have done with mine is put them in the rock-tumbler to clean 'em some, but not a lot. Then take them to the coin counter at a bank down the street from work. Some get kicked out. I get a receipt from the bank for the others, and they give me cash for them. The ones that get kicked out by the coin counting machine, the bank gives me replacements for. They aren't happy about it, but hey, that's government work sometimes. I have gotten better about knowing if it's a zinc or real cent though.

 

[GeorgeinSC]

I saw a video somewhere that showed a guy melting zincs and making himself a ring. Since salt corrodes zinc due to electrolysis what would happen to the ring on ones finger when he or she started sweating? When I was in the Navy we had to replace very large "Zinc's" on the hull of the submarine so that the electrolysis would corrode the zincs and not the steel of the hull.

 

[SpiritRelic]

And the Iranian owner told me i had crap money.Well he used another word for crap.

 

[BARGuy]

I save mine until I have 50-100 then stop by the new elementary school down the street...I broadcast them under the swings like grass seed.

Somebody's diggin/picking them up...They're mostly gone everytime I swing by there!

 

[Tin Fin]

BARGuy, that's just mean man... that's just mean.... well, if it's a detectorist that's picking 'em up anyway; if it's kids, they might appreciate it.
But I am getting some good ideas on what to do with mine.

 

[mudpuppy]

I'm saving them up to pay some sort of goofy tax with someday...a whole wheelbarrow full of them, wheeled right into city hall...plus, those rotten zinc signals could be gold, so I grab all I can get.
Mud

 

[BillF]

Thats funny as hell! Thanks for the laugh.

I save mine until I have 50-100 then stop by the new elementary school down the street...I broadcast them under the swings like grass seed.

Somebody's diggin/picking them up...They're mostly gone everytime I swing by there!

 

[JimGilmore]

you said that the baanks have no obligation to take them an I am not 100% sure thats a correct statment.
Could banks refuse to deal in us currency ?

 

[BillF]

Banks don't have any obligation to take damaged money. In most cases they will exchange damaged and defaced currency that can be redily recognized, but it is ultimately the responsibility of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving to replace your money. If you clean them and roll them and mark them as bad, feel lucky if your bank will take them off your hands for you.

 

[Robert2300]

I tried turning them into the bank along with some good ones.
Whe ^%$T hit the fan. No.

Now I just throw them away. I thought about trying to run them
through a Coin Star but didn't. I would just be pawning my
junk onto someone else to deal with. Not a very respectful
thing to do.

Robert2300