Very Strange Penny to Me. (1996) Help Educate Me...

[unfound]

I was getting ready to clean some clad and found this 1996 penny in the bunch. Is it just a penny that has the zinc worn off?
It is thinner and lighter than a regular penny. I do not have a scale, you can tell the weight difference in your hand.

It is not magnetic and its cupped or domed, however you would say it. I've been MDing for awhile but I know very little about coins compared to those that know. I was just more curious as to if its an oddball. Its pretty worn from being the cupped shape.

If someone could school me, maybe it would help others too if they run across one. I placed it next to a regular 1970 penny, because it was handy, for comparison. All I did to it was wash it in soap and water.

 

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[Jason in Enid]

Looks like a penny that has been ground down from tires or foot traffic. Not uncommon at all.

 

[unfound]

Thanks, I really didn't think it was that much of an oddball, I have just never seen one like it in my clad and just wanted to check with the "professionals".

 

[Carolina Tom]

Looks like the copper has been "sanded" off of the zinc core.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

The copper is worn off in the raised areas so the zinc is showing through. You think that looks weird you should see pennies that have been in a clothes washer for a while, they look like mini-pennies, they are about half their normal size!