How many copper 1982 cents are out there Vs. zinc 1982 zinc cents?

Basically true about them not holding up well. Of course you must realize it has now been over 25 years of them bouncing around and you really don't see many coins lately that age in change. Just to many hoarders and melters out there. None are really difficult to find at a coin show. Many dealers hoarded them by the roll and are now selling MS grades for a rediculous price. As to how to tell the difference, this one has been posted many times.
You just take a popsicle or icr bar stick, balance it on a pencil, place a post 82 coin at one end, any 82 at the other end. If it balances, both are Zinc. If the last one placed goes down, it is Copper. It's easier to balance the stick if the pencil is a six sided one that will stand still for a second. A drop of glue will also help hold the stick to the pencil for those attempts to weigh the coins.
Always remember to eat the stuff of the stick first. Again, that's called humor you know.

 

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.....could you mean 1983 coppers? i read your post and it made me think of this article.

http://coins.about.com/od/uscoins/f/copper_to_zinc.htm

 

I've seen that article in the past and was always shocked at that so called drop test. They do sort of warn not to use it on valuable coins, but just not everyone knows what is and what isn't valuable. For example a 1982 reverse double die may well go unnoticed by most and if dropped, may not help it's value.
And for elderly individuals the hearing is just not there either so that too may make this test a failure.

 

I stay within the boundaries of the law but I appreciate your concern. It warms my heart.

 

no D zincs

in looking at 1982 cents pulled from circulation, this is what I've found:
mint P D
Bronze 19 13
Zinc 13 0
at some point, I'll differentiate between large and small dates

 

Sorry. I didn't know you were joking about me melting coins. I just wanted to make it clear that I will not break the law. Peace. :smile

 

Well im sure theyre bound to get rid of the law once they have enough zinc coins in circulation. But thats some nice cash for you.
Do you use an electrical burner or the actual open pit fire?
I have seen both used...

 

I've seen electricians burning insulation of wiring and cables in large garbage type cans. As a rule they also trow in Copper coins and anything else that is or might be Copper. Smelters also accept Copper coins and melt them along with other Copper products. Any one that thinks the government has sufficient law inforcement individuals to monitor all that is badly mistaken. Remember that a blob of Copper, Zinc, Silver, Gold, etc is just a block of metal. The dates, mint marks, etc are all gone.
I know it isn't right but it happens every day.
Just beware of the coin melting police. :goofer:

 

What about how copper coins are actually considered to be a bronze? Could investigators find out that that block of metal was the same alloy as used in U.S. one cent coins? Or is the copper plumbing pipes and other copper products also a bronze of the same or a similar alloy? I still wouldn't like the idea of breaking the law and melting tem, but as I said, I want to keep on hoarding them in case they ever lift the melting ban on copper cents, however, I'm not even sure how to go about melting then if it ever does become legal. :goofer: All I know is, I won't be taking a chance illegally.

 

very true.
I have a friend who melts them in his backyard all types of coins and other craplike that, I think im going to post what he is melted if he is willing to let me share the information for the coins. Its kind of mind numbing:computer:

 

Don't worry about that. When it becomes legal you'll be able to sell the coin to the smelters/metal recyclers and they will handle any melting.

 

As to the properties of Bronze.
Brass is basically Copper, 1 % Tin, 30 % Zinc.
Bronze is bsically Copper, Tin and a large variety of other elements. Some are Phosphorus, Manganese, Aluminum and even Silicon.
Cartridge cases were salvaged after WW2 and used for coinage. Although the composition was supposed to be 95% Copper and the rest Zinc, that would be difficult to prove. Mostly the shell casings were used and the contaminates from the gun powder could be extensive or negligable.
The actual term of Bronze for numersou metalic items is at best a little misleading. Many ancient peoples used large varieties of the Copper mixtures for many reasons including weapons. Many Bronze statues are of extensively different colors and tones. All due to the many possible mixtures.
So in answer to your question, even the Coin Melting Police could not tell if a block of metal was ever a coin. :goofer:

 

THE expert says they never used shell casings for mintages;

However, there were basically 2 compositions used not counting the 1943's. 1909 - 1941 were 95% copper, 4% zinc, and 1% tin. 1942, & 1944 - 1946 they were 95% copper, and 5% zinc. In 1947, they returned to the 1% tin until 1961, but in 1962 again removed the tin.

My guess is that with complete enough and expensive enough analysis they could probably tell you the odds were VERY high there were many cents melted in your block, but they could not be 100% positive.

 

Getting more interesting all the time. I wonder if anyone could actually ever prove just what did happen to those empty shells if not used for coins? And too, those percentages are from the Mint and not the actual organizations that produced the materials.
Just got to contact the coin material police.

 

1.)

2.)
There were not enough shells shot to make all the cents minted in those years.

 

I have read before many times thatin 1944 all the shell casings were recycled to make pennies, plusmost people didnt like the steelies so they tokk them out of circulation, hence defeating their purpose.

 

I have always read they used the shell casings from 1944 to/though 1946. That is 5.144 Billion cents. That means 35,273,272.48 pounds. I have no idea how many bullets that makes, but it is one heck of a lot.

Besides, I am just quoting. The only evidence I have is the same as you have.

 

I once heard a rumor that the government culled the steel cents from circulation with magnets, for many years after World War 2, then they sealed them in steel drums, took them out to somewhere in the ocean, and tossed the drums overboard, because they claimed that the metal was not worth recycling. I find that to be bull. Since when can you not melt down and recycle steel? This is are reason why I hate the idea of taking ships out to sea that they don't want, and just sinking them. All of those metals are a non-renewable resource, so just cut the damn ships up and haul the metal to a recycling center.

I do feel that it would be bull, if they claimed they could not recycle the steelies. So the steel may have been slightly alloyed with zinc. Big whoop. Not saying that is a reason, but who knows?

 

The FED did remove a lot of steel cents in the late '50's if memory serves. Compared to mintages these numbers were pretty small though. I don't know about the disposition of these coins but in those days scrap steel was only about $30 per ton and galvanize should have been a little less. Unless they had an awful lot it would be cheaper to put them in landfill than recycle them.

My understanding is that there weren't nearly enough empty shell casings to make the huge numbers of cents in the mid '40's so they were just added to the production stream.

 

Ohh I heard of 1944 to 1945 or the end of the war. But you have to remember thats realistic amount of casings, theyre firing hundreds of bullets per minute from airplanes to machineguns to tommy guns, rifles and pistols etc.