I just recently got a new scale, this one reading .01g instead of the .1g I had previously. I am seeing slight variances in weight...the newer pennies are about +/- .02g and the post-82s maybe a bit more. But my biggest variances lie in the wheat cents. I am seeing around the 3.05 and 3.07g range and my steel cents vary from about 2.67 to 2.72g. So i am wondering...is my scale off or are these values normal? Being .02g off seems normal, but being .06g off for a wheat??
reg wheat 3.10 +/- .13 grams, steel 2.689 and 2.754 both types +/- 0.13 grams ( can't differentiate due to overlap). so copper wheats 2.97 - 3.23 grams uncirculated. Steel 2.559 - 2.884 grams ( per Breen ) Jim
Thank you for the clarification. I was worried that my scale was off. Seeing 3.0 and 3.1 on my other scale never bothered me...move it to 2 digits after the decimal and I am worried. But good to know that variance. Much appreciated!
Jim - did you get that decimal point in the wrong place ? I'm thinking it should be 0.013gm tolerance.
I would have to say if it were only 0.013g tolerance, we would have a lot of coins that were off. A lot of my coins, even the newer ones or pocket change, are even more than 0.013g off. I dont think it is my scale? Could be maybe...
Fair enough, I was just basing my number on the 1% rule of thumb. And DOH ! I see now that I made a mistake and transposed my number ! I should have typed - 0.031
Yeah, they would. I transposed the 3 and 1. But your comment brings up a point that seems to imply something that a lot of people get wrong. That being that many think that tolerance levels for modern coins are tighter than they were for older coins. The exact opposite is true. Tolerance levels for modern coins are actually much higher, much larger, than they were for older coins. Particularly so for the gold and silver coins. But rather obviously the 1% rule of thumb does not apply to copper coins.
From the 1964 bronze cents to the 4/1/73 change , the tolerance was +/- 0.26grams, twice as much, so they did tighten up. I still think it is amazing that they produce the number of cents per day within tolerances, but I am not sure how often they sample the weight although I guess they can calculate this for each roll of metal. jim
When I say older Jim, I am not talking about anything within either of our lifetimes. To me older means the 1800's and back for the most part. But I believe they were still very tight with tolerances for gold and silver coins for the first half of the 20th century.
