1 Cent - Elizabeth II 3rd portrait

The Bermuda Monetary Authority replaced the earlier copper-alloy cent with a copper-plated zinc composition in 1991, mirroring the same cost-driven transition the United States had made for its Lincoln cent nearly a decade earlier in 1982. Zinc cores plate poorly over time, and circulated survivors frequently show edge corrosion where the copper layer has separated — a known weakness of the type.