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ImperialFleet
Penny Pincher Member
USA
217 Posts |
 Posted - 08/16/2006 : 21:32:11
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Introduction
From my beginning of sorting U.S. cents for their Copper content, I have made them into piles of Pre-1982's (Coppers), Post-1982's (Zincs), Wheats, Canadians (all years), and 1982's. The Coppers are rolled and boxed. Zincs are returned to the bank and exchanged for fresh, unsorted rolls from circulation. Wheats are put into a Ziploc(TM) baggie. All cents stamped "1982" are put unrolled into a box for weighing and separation into Copper or Zinc at a later date. Today is that later date.
Situation
Over the last 6 months I was too busy selling my old house, building my new house, moving twice and getting settled into the new house to deal with weighing and separating my 1982 cents. Recently I unpacked/recovered my RCBS 5-0-5 scale. When properly zeroed, this scale is accurate to one-tenth of a grain (0.00647grams) which is far more than sufficient to weigh the difference between a 3.11g 1982 Copper and a 2.5g 1982 Zinc. Over the past week I have been weighing each 1982 out of my box. All cents accomeulated, therefore including 1982 cents, are from general public circulation and thus provide a good picture into what other Copper hoarders may expect to find from the public arena.
Method of Analysis
A 1982 Copper cent in ideal condition should weigh 47.995 grains (3.11 grams). A 1982 Zinc cent in ideal condition should weigh 38.581 grains (2.5 grams). "Ideal condition" in this project means the cent is relatively free of extra weight from dirt, and is not missing significant portions of the coin from damage or abuse. To analyze 1982 cents for their Copper or Zinc content the scale is set to 45.0 grains (2.915 grams). By doing this, when a heavier 1982 cent is placed on the scale, the scale will strongly tip to past the -0- needle; a positive indication the cent weighs more than 45.0 grains and thus is categorized as a Copper 1982 cent. When a lighter 1982 cent is placed on the scale the scale will not even move; a positive indication the cent weighs significantly less than 45.0 grains and thus is categorized as a Zinc 1982 cent.
Analytical Results
Before weighing each 1982 cent in the box they were counted and came to a quantity of 1,115. After individually weighing all 1,115 1982 cents, 893 were discovered to be Copper cents, 222 were Zinc cents. When expressed as a percentage of the 1,115 batch of cents Copper comprises 80.09% of the batch.
Summary
Analysis shows that over 80% of 1982 cents in circulation are considered Copper cents. This is out of over $375 (37,500 cents) of circulated cents that I have sorted through and docomeented. I will be taking this data and revising my percentage of Copper discovered out of general public circulation. My estimation is that my Copper percentage will be increased by 2.48% after I input this information. I will confirm or dispel this estimation shortly by posting the update in this thread.
The above research is the intellectual property of ImperialFleet Publishing. It may not be reproduced without expressed consent of ImperialFleet or ImperialFleet Publishing. Please link to this page instead of copying/pasting this information.
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“Ultimately, the Fed can flood the system by buying any kind of asset, or even dropping bank notes from helicopters" -Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke
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ImperialFleet
Penny Pincher Member
USA
217 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2006 : 21:55:44
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After revising my Excel data by distinguishing 1982 Coppers from 1982 Zincs my overall Copper percentage was increased by 2.27% so my above estimate was very close. Now that I have my scale at the ready, each time I post my findings in the "Sorting Percentages" thread I will list a line for "Zn 1982s" and a line for "Cu 1982s."
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“Ultimately, the Fed can flood the system by buying any kind of asset, or even dropping bank notes from helicopters" -Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke |
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Canadian_Nickle
Penny Hoarding Member
Canada
938 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2006 : 00:50:22
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Thganks for posting this. Even though I don't collect US pennies, It's still interesting to know
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Canadian_Nickle
Penny Hoarding Member
Canada
938 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2006 : 00:51:36
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| Also, what do you do with your canadians? |
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ImperialFleet
Penny Pincher Member
USA
217 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2006 : 22:21:19
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I am storing the Canadians for when I finally have a large enough quantity (500+) to sort through.
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“Ultimately, the Fed can flood the system by buying any kind of asset, or even dropping bank notes from helicopters" -Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke |
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Metalophile
Penny Collector Member
USA
320 Posts |
 Posted - 08/29/2006 : 09:38:52
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I was under the impression that the US Mint made close to 50/50 Bronze/Zinc cents in 1982 so as to discourage hoarding of either variety by making them equally plentiful. Either this is not true or many of the zinc cents are not circulating for some reason.
Metalophile |
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Canadian_Nickle
Penny Hoarding Member
Canada
938 Posts |
Posted - 08/29/2006 : 20:26:20
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| I'm pretty sure that zinc cents deteriorate faster, so it makes sense that there would be more of the copper ones still suitable for circulation. |
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n/a
deleted
73 Posts |
Posted - 09/16/2006 : 23:29:54
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If this link is accurate You must be logged in to see this link. and it looks like the total coins minted for the year is correct, so if I also assume this person has the copper and zinc pennies listed correctly then it was 57% zinc and 43% copper pennies minted in 1982.
So, wouldn't have guessed 80%+ copper but maybe the zinc really does deteriorate faster and if that is true and half the zinc 1982's have been removed from circulation/lost/melted/thrown away...anyone think saving zinc 1982's is a good idea? Looks like they are rarer than they should be and if I may use a baseball card collecting term they are rookie year coins and the rookie year baseball card of a player is usually worth more (or was when I used to collect them...been a long time since I've done that).
I just put all my 1982 pennies in the same jar to be sorted later, still need to sort them if I were to melt them but now I'm thinking of just holding onto the zincs or am I full of it an the rookie year analogy doesn't apply to coins...I'm new to collecting.
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Tourney64
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1035 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2006 : 17:38:06
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1982 US Penny facts.
Rookie coins are typically worth more, but not when the mintage is so high for pennies. In 1982 there were 17.7 billion US pennies minted, but there is no published info on the split between the variations. For comparison, 1981 - 12.8 billion, 1983 - 14.2 billion US pennies minted.
There are 8 different kinds of 1982 US Cents - large date, small date and the 3 mints, and the 95% Copper and the 97% Zinc.
The metal content for 2 of the coins can be determined by the mint and date size.
1982S was only minted in 97% Zinc.
1982D small date was only minted in 97% Zinc.
Here's the info on pricing of 1982 Mint State (MS63) pennies in Zinc and copper, which tells me that the 1982 mintage was a lot higher in copper than zinc. There were 10.7 billion copper 1982 Philadelphia mint (no mint mark). Based on these prices, I would say at least 80% were copper. For the 1982D there were 6 billion minted, and the large date I would guess about 55% were copper.
Copper Zinc
1982 Large Date .25 .50
1982 Small Date .25 2.00
1982D Large Date .25 .30
1982D Small Date - .25 |
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Analytical Results of 1,115 Random 1982 pennies
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