Grading zinc coins?

Grading is generally speaking a composite assessment of wear, damage and overall eye appeal.  I would be curious to know how experienced collectors go about grading zinc, tin or other unwise choices for coin material.

I'm thinking of the wartime European issues and some Asian coins struck in metals which quickly deteriorate even under ideal storage conditions. Even in high grades these coins look poor simply because of their composition.

Do you disregard the "eye appeal" element and grade strictly on wear and damage?

I have some old romanian zinc coins wich are unc so i am being strict even with zinc,iron and poor material coins .

I think the criteria for grading should remain the same no matter what the material used, as coins made of zinc in UNC condition or close say coins that still have lustre should in my opinion achieve a far higher price than the others as they are quite rare in comparison.

For the upper grades, the eye appeal should be there. UNC coins should have full mint luster, and EF should be nice, clean examples with at least a hint of luster, but as the grades drop lower the criitera could be loosened up.

As a rule of thumb, I consider zinc coins with full detail but with the common charcoal coloring to be no higher a grade than VF.

Tin and steel I grade by the same rules as I do most other metals, giving a grade for wear with a note for rust or corrotion.

I think stainless steel should be graded tighter than most other metals (but I must admit that I rarely do.).
Stainless steel wears slower and doesn't tarnish or corrode in the same manner as other metals.

Hello,

I think that the criteria should be the same for all coins, of course zinc is quite a delicate material, but if you conserve it properly should remain in good conditions.
For example, see below images which I took about 10 days ago, all of them are UNC, but only the 5,2,1 Lekë are brilliant, while the 1/2 Lekë are not all brilliant, but with some grey areas, not sure if the light in image is good though. They were all kept in boxes in tunnels of the government, but the boxes of 1/2 Lekë were a little open, so that's why their surface is not all brilliant, while the other coins boxes were closed. They were not in any airtite capsule or slab, or some other modern things.

I am sorry I put twice the obverse, here is the reverse:

Those are some nice looking coins how did you come by them?

Well Alistair,

once in a while, when I have some money left I get some of these jewels, it is not so easy, but once in a month or two I get them, I don't have them anymore as I swaped all three sets, but if you are interested, when I get some I might message you.

Regards

Lidian

Cheers

I think I have never seen a zinc coin which wasn't the dreary dark grey color.

The purist in me wants to agree with those saying that all coins should be graded equally regardless of composition.

The pragmatic devil within is telling me that ctucker is right, in terms of wear it may be AU but if the coin is so dull that the design is indistinct it should be VF, maybe EF.

Well,

with all due respect Mr. Nightingale, now you have seen some brilliant zinc coins, I guarantee that the picture is genuine, as I shot it myself, and had the coins on hand.

It seems that the Russian Mint wooden boxes conserves the coins better than the PCGG, NGC air tite, slab thingies.

Quote: lidianbWell,

with all due respect Mr. Nightingale, now you have seen some brilliant zinc coins, I guarantee that the picture is genuine, as I shot it myself, and had the coins on hand.

It seems that the Russian Mint wooden boxes conserves the coins better than the PCGG, NGC air tite, slab thingies.

My dear fellow, I wasn't implying that the coins were not genuine or that you were in any way misrepresenting them. So please accept my apologies if that was the impression that you got.

What I was trying to convey was the notion that as zinc coins tend to be at least 60 years old and that they darken very quickly regardless of wear, I have never had the good fortune to see one with my own baby blue eyes.

I should buy some slightly used Russian Mint crates I think.