Zinc melts at a fairly low temperature, like tin, but it takes longer to cool down. In its raw form you can see its hexagonal crystal like structure. 

As the metal cools it starts to form hexagonals in the middle making it look different to the more boxy horizontal structures that appear in some of the tin slugs (not all – a lot of them are fluid on top).

The colour is slightly different and zinc is a little bit less shiny – I suspect that it will oxidise faster and maybe become unattractive.