1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

I heard that in 1982 they switched from a mostly copper penny to a mostly zinc penny but that some '82s were still made of copper. How do I tell the difference between a zinc 82 or a copper 82? Were they marked with the city letters D, P or S?

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

When you flip it in the air, like flipping a coin for heads or tails, the copper one will "sing" and the zinc kinda goes "thunk"

s

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

What does Abe sing, "Dixie" or "Mine Eyes Have Seen?"

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

I weigh them, the copper cents weight 3.11g and the zinc cents weigh 2.5g

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

When I go through my change I don't even bother with the 82's and just toss them aside with the other trash zinc as it was too much trouble for me to figure it out. Everything 81 and below I save, everything 82 and above I put with my other coins (not nickels though) that are headed to the bank.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

I make a separate '82 pile and weigh them out later. Takes all of 5 minutes to run through a couple hundred and the yield is usually about 25% copper. I do the weighing on a triple beam calibrated to zero at the high weight of a copper cent. I just rake the weighed coin off with the to-be weighed coin, the direction of the rake sending the coin into either the copper or not containers below.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

The sound the copper ones make are unmistakable, as compared to the zinc. I'm glad to hear, though, that many are choosing to discard all of their '82 pennies. More copper left in circulation for me!

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

i too, sound them.
ching=keep
thunk=junk


j6p

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

I generally get 75% copper from my '82s. As MG pointed out, many copper hoarders dump them because some are zinc.

Your results may vary, depending on how many Ryedales are running in your city. :wink:

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

If you dont have sharp enough hearing then there are two options:

1) Get a cheap digital scale (you can probably get one for under $10) that measures grams

2) Take a pre-1982 penny and tape or glue to one end of a popsicle stick or ruler, balance the stick/ruler on a pencil or rod, and then place the unknown 1982 penny on the opposite end. If it doesnt move the balance, it's zinc, if it brings the stick/ruler up to parallel, then it's 95% copper. It's crude but it will work.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

OK. I was able to hear them sing!!! The coppers make a distinct "ping" sound the moment they hit the table. Sometimes I'd hear a little bit of a ping sound from zinc pennies but nowhere near as loud and the "ping would gradually form after the coin bounced a few times vs right from the start. Tomorrow I'll weigh them to make sure.

Tanks for all the advice.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

Please don't kill the messenger but with the bottom falling out of the commodities market (including copper), and the VERY long time it is going to take to recover...and probably not in our lifetimes to the price level copper was...

it's probably not worth the effort to separate out pennies or hold nickels anymore.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

goldminer, you might be right, but how much does it cost me to be wrong? I will continue to collect copper and nickles cause long term the dollar is STILL TOAST.:15_1_70v:

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

Yes, but I just flip them back into circulation during hand sorting.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

Maybe not but I look at it as as a savings account of sorts. The money invested in $0.01 per penny saved (unless you pick it up off the sidewalk) and it provides a hedge against both inflation and deflation.

Personally I do it more for the thrill of the hunt. I like searching for wheat cents and the occasional wild Indian Head Cent (found one in about 100,000 pennies searched).

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

That's pretty close to my percentage as well, so they are worth checking and keeping.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

Agreed on sorting pennies, but holding nickels isn't the worst thing you could do, if you're going to hold some kind of fiat. When the FRN dies, the nickels will still hold some value. Naturally, PMs are a far better bet!

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

6.5 tons of copper and still hoarding.

In my experience, about 80% of the 1982 are copper.....so I'm guessing they must have switched about August/September 1982?

I do not think we will have to wait very long for copper to be back up at $3+/lb.....and still expect $10/lb inside 5 years (mostly due to the dollar falling....). This is just my opinion.

I still want to get to 10 tons! That is the number I've picked to stop hoarding.

For sure...a penny only costs me a penny + my effort.

On an interesting note: a "copper" penny is exactly 1/10th of a troy ounce......it is bullion boys!

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

I agree....right now it's on sale just like silver.

Yep....it's not like you have to go to the coin shop and hope they have inventory. Just call up your local branches and order some boxes.

Very true....coincidence? I dont think so. :coolbeer:

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

Question for the copper hoarders, what is the ultimate goal in hoarding? Since it's currently illegal to melt 'em down for the copper content, what will you do with them?

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

1) Only current Inflation/Deflation "Safe Cash".....in big inflation = someday melt them. In big deflation = spend them.

2) I think we will have big inflation as USD continues to tank. At some point, the penny will be such a small piece of cash....the mint will just drop it....probably the nickel at the same time.....who needs that resolution of purchase? It takes 5 cents to buy today what required a penny in the mid 1970s......I look at a penny today and think.....if it were 1975 would the public like to have a 1/5th cent coin?!?!? Answer = NO WAY = why do we have the penny today?????

3) When the penny is out of production, we will be free to melt them / scrap them.

4) Again, i anticipate big commodity inflation down the road (next 5 years) - mostly due to dollar destruction....but the rest of the world still needs copper...and will demand more in the future....

5) I bet at some point, a "Junk" Copper Cent market will develope....it has happened over the past year with folks paying 2X face for sorted copper pennies.....i even think APMEX was selling them at one time....

6) My plan is just like my PM plan......pay off current locked in long term fixed rate debt (my mortgage) with future inflated FRN dollars. I do not think it is out of the question to one day in the next 5 to 10 years to be able to get 5 cents or even 10 cents for a copper penny......that will reduce my current debt payoff "cost" down to 10% to 20%.

I may be wrong...but where can you currently get "sound" money for face value.....meaning my penny has a penny of metal in it's composition. Just last summer it had 3 cents of metal ....and it will again.....I'm impressed that even in this commodity bust...it still held at 1 cent = 1 cent of copper.

I'm heading for 10 tons = 20,000 lbs = $30,000 face value.......if we can one day sell for 80% of melt and copper gets to say $10/lb (it has been to $4.50 in the past year...).....it takes $1.50 face to make a pound......at $10/lb copper and 80% melt sale = better than 5X my investment......at $20/lb copper = 10X my investment.

I think it would be cool to pay off a big home loan with $20,000 - $30,000 in copper pennies.

You could do the same thing with PM.....that is the plan.....but PM does have a downside risk.....and the copper penny does not (except for the possibility of lost labor).

Just my thoughts......:yes:

EDIT DATA: Copper penny is sound at $1.50/lb copper. Zinc penny is sound at $1.80/lb zinc. In the past few years Copper was up to $4.50 and Zinc was up to $2/lb......it is just a matter of a few years and we will be above these prices again.

Current copper is $1.50/lb and zinc is $0.50/lb.......

It does not demand that extreme of a situation to make these pennies sound and well more than face value.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

If things get bad enough (hyperinflation, civil disorder, etc.), melting being "illegal" probably won't make much difference at that point.

Besides, if there is a hyperinflation, which money would you prefer to accept: a paper dollar or 2 rolls of 95% copper cents? Even crummy zinc pennies will have some value in an extreme situation.

[Ruprick's answer much more thorough than mine. Refer to post above.]

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

Thanks for the input guys, I guess everyone's motive is different, I was wondering what the general thought was....cause I had read not too long ago the Mint put a prohibition on the melting of pennies and nickels for their content....but that could change of course

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

I understand that melting them isn't as easy/safe as one might initially think but it doesn't controvert the fact that once the things are melted it is a lump of copper you are left with and no one can identify the source of that copper.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

I seem to find (from my unscientific recollection) they are about 75% copper. I make a little penny balance beam with a copper penny and a little plastic cup attached to opposite sides of a popsickle stick. I have it set up so that when you put a zinc penny in the cup, it won't tip and a copper penny will tip it. Only takes a few minutes as mentioned above.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

Yeah, I got that backwards. I was trying to make the point that '82's are worth sorting out because of the higher proportion coming out copper. I did a miserable job with this error.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

The better path is to deal directly with an end user.....casting suppliers that make brass products.....smelters and refiners that produce specific brass/copper alloys. I have these contacts - I work in Aluminum/Magnesium/Zinc Die Casting....

I do not/will not sell as general scrap metal.

50% of my hoard is Canadian Copper.....and Canadian Nickle...these can and have been used directly by end material users...and will be used going forward.

I also like trading USD paper cash for CND copper/nickle.....not just sound money buy also a currency diversification. I'm betting the USD will drop long term against the CND.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

I've been hand sorting copper pennies for probably 1.5 - 2 years but I have been rolling them and storing in the $25 boxes (shown below) so I always know how much I have in face value. It's very easy to store this way because the boxes are stackable and easily moved.

My question is this:

Is it silly to roll the pennies and store this way and would it be better to just save them loose in say $25 FV bags? Will the fact that I am actually paper rolling them in 50� rolls be a waste of time down the road?

TIA for advice from other copper penny hoarders :biggrin:

*~*Joey*~*

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

I think what you're doing is fine. What I like to do is put them into sturdy ziploc freezer bags, 500 to a bag (confirmed by weighing on a digitial scale - 1550 grams per 500 pennies). I then put four of these 500-count bags into a baseball card storage box that I get from the local sportscard store. I can fit four bags nicely into a 660-count box so 2000 per box. They stack very nicely and saves the time and trouble of counting and rolling the individual rolls. The boxes run maybe 35-50 cents each I think so I pick up 10-20 at at a time. Your way is nice though in the sense that if copper explodes, you can sell these in prepacked 50-count rolls kinda like people sell wheat rolls today. I have no plans to sell anytime soon, so this way works well for me. :10_1_20:

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

This is what I was thinking about doing because IF we ever get to the point when the ban is lifted on melting them down, the fact that they are rolled, will mean I would need to unroll them. If they are in bags, you just unzip and dump....seems alot faster.

Just sittin' here sorting pennies while watching Pittsburgh/Baltimore FB game. The Eagles game bummed me out :bawling: I'm just guessing but I bet ABC was hoping for an Eagles vs. Steelers Super Bowl because a Cardinals vs. Ravens game would be a bust. Not knocking either city or team, just not 2 MAJOR markets like Philly and Pittsburgh.

*~*Joey*~*

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

Good point. Not sure if you are familiar with the boxes I am talking about so I will give you a link to an EBay auction here that shows what they look like:

http://cgi.ebay.com/BCW-660-count-Ba...1%7C240%3A1318

Not sure what your hoard is like, but mine is pretty average at best. Another nice thing is that they look just like plain white boxes so if someone broke into your house, they may or may not know what they are and may not even look. With the penny boxes, it screams "free money - take me"....lol. :bear_w00t: Not that a criminal is going to run off with $25 boxes of pennies, but this may clue them in that you either collect coins or hoard other precious metals. Does that make sense?

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

I do it the same as this. Works for me. I figure in some weird SHTF situation rolls of pennies are going to be easier to spend than a bigass baggie of pennies. Common folk know what to expect from a roll of pennies but practically nobody knows what a 500ct bag of pennies weighs and they are not going to believe you. For those that do, they are not going to complain about them being rolled unless they are jerks that think you're sneaking slugs into the rolls and in that case they are not hard to split open and weigh. I always try to think of the lowest common denominator.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

Yes APMEX currently BUYS and SELLS copper cents. Search under cents on the left hand side of their screen.


Also there was and still is so many copper penny listings as copper "bullion " that ebay made copper its own section under their bullion category!

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

I just went to the local coin store on Saturday and saw a neatly-packaged set of 6 or 7 1982 copper/zinc pennies. The pennies themselves looked like they had been previously circulated but it's possible they were uncirculated. The price for the set was $3.00.

I don't get it! :confused_ma:

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

Could have been a set of the 1982 pennies....theyr were like 7 flavors that year.....

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

That's exactly what that is. There were zincs, coppers, small dates, large dates, etc to the tune of 7 varieties. To me it's more of a novelty type item and something any copper hoarder could put together easily for face value.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

What are you basing this on? You don't expect substantial inflation?

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

Will you be flipping each one individually in front of your potential buyer someday? Or will he just take your word for it?

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

Yes please keep throwing back the 82's. More for us. I have had about an 80% average since I started as well. Maybe I should change that # to 10%!!

If you are already spending some of your valuable time to sort your copper pennies, than I don't really see what the big deal is about flipping or weighing them while hoarding or after. If you have a "Ryedale" even better!

I was only into PM's when I joined GIM, however, why not diversify my holdings to base metals as well? As these industrializing nations continue to grow there is only going to be more demand for AG & CU the way I see it.

Plus, if pennies ever do become extinct you will see the CU's being sold at higher cost than the Zinc counterparts.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

I get an average of about 70-80 1982 copper cents per box so its worth taking the time to weigh them.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

I found a listing of the 7 varieties from 1982 for anyone who cares:

95% Copper
1982-P Large date
1982-P Small date
1982-D Large date

Zinc
1982-P Small date
1982-P Large date
1982-D Small date
1982-D Large date

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

No 1982-S Coins?

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

A small premium...perhaps 3 cents in bulk....sometimes more on Ebay...but there are fees.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

I forgot what my local dealer said he'd pay me for the wheats. I'm thinking 4c apiece in bulk. Of course, I have been reviewing each find to insure I wouldn't be giving away something of more value but at some point I'll probably take him my bag of wheats and trade in for some bullion. I generally find about 1 wheat per dollar face of pennies.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

I'm jealous. I usually 1 per 5 dollars.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

In between here....I average about 11-12 wheats per box of $25.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

Actually, they are .95 copper

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

He wasent talking about the copper content. He was talking about what percentage of 1982 pennies are copper instead of zinc.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

oops, sorry about that.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

Someone was probably saying that about silver in the late 60's too.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

I went through $12 dollars today. No wheats! AH! Finding wheat makes my day.

Re: 1982 zinc or copper pennies
 

that's exactly what my yield was on some rolls i got from BofA before i closed my account there !

i can't see well enough to go through a whole bunch of pennies. i figure it's a good idea to save them, it doesn't take up that much room. i ended up getting about 20 $25 boxes. i store them in plastic 4 gallon buckets from the deli.

worse that can happen is my copper will end up smelling like pickels !! :36_3_12: