More action with the '82 pennies
After we got the 1982 copper cents separated from the 1982 zinc cents in our pennies project, another sorting exercise awaited. It turns out that for both metal types in that transition year, there are both large date and small date varieties, as the Mint changed its master die for the cent in mid-year (with the change making the date smaller). Telling the difference isn't all that easy -- the large isn't that much bigger than the small -- but this site was quite helpful. Armed with a magnifying glass and looking at the "2" in "1982," we were able to tell how many of each we had. Here are the results:
| Mint | Copper, large date | Copper, small date | Zinc, large date | Zinc, small date | Total |
| Philadelphia | 24 | 2 | 188 | 1 | 215 |
| Denver | 287 | * | 7 | 27 | 321 |
| Total | 311 | 2 | 195 | 28 | 536 |
| * - None minted |
We've also finished our pursuit of the impossible dream -- a copper 1983 penny. Out of a couple hundred 1983's on hand, none weighed 3.11 grams. The heaviest one we found weighed in at 41.9 grains, or 2.715 grams -- a little over the standard 2.5 grams for the zinc penny, but maybe it's just the dirt. Or could it be that there was a little extra copper left in the mix?
| Posted at 11:09 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (3)
Yes, coins are an inexpensive way to build up some spending money for those rare cases of a dire national emergency of some sort or another which closes banks for extended or indefinite periods of time.
On another front, involving fighting the pro green nazis in charge of various aspects of our everyday lives, I recommend building up a ten to twenty year supply of incandescent light bulbs. A RINO during the Bush II area pushed through a bill phasing out incandescents (last year is 2014 but I also hear it could be as earliest as 2012). Flourscents of anykind give my wife headaches, and I don't find them to be to good on my eyes either. LEDs are expensive. I've heard some citizens in Europe are complaining they want incadescents to be made available again. Incandescents have been banned for years in Europe supposedly.
Posted by Bob Clark | March 6, 2011 12:31 PM
Jack, have you tried one of these? I have one somewhere in the basement (might as well be Mars) that I used years ago, when there used to be a fair amount of Wheaties in general circulation.
They work well--lighted and magnified, the small dates are less formidable.
http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=26&threadid=736352&STARTPAGE=2
Posted by TomR | March 6, 2011 4:02 PM
If you ever dig around and pull out your Scan-o-Matic, I'd love to check it out.
Meanwhile, what a pickup line: "Let's go back to my place and turn on the Scan-o-Matic."
Not to be confused with Strat-o-Matic Baseball, on which we killed many a summer hour in my youth.
Posted by Jack Bog | March 6, 2011 10:15 PM