Going through penny rolls and noticed that there is a considerable difference in thickness of 1979D pennies and those from 2017P. Is this normal? I can't find anything indicating a difference in thickness? Pictures show the unopened bank rolls, the stack of 50 pennies from both rolls, and a stack of 10 coins of each year.
I've found throughout my experiences that pre-1983 bronze cents tend to be thicker than the post-1981 zinc ones. Anyhow, I'm curious to see what other people have to say about this. Great question.
In all honesty, I've never noticed that, but it's very interesting to know about. That knowledge may come in handy someday. I don't know when or how, but it very well might. Thanks for pointing that out !
Its not as drastic as your example but here’s a full bronze roll on the right and a full zinc roll on the left. The bronze roll is longer by several millimeters (both have 50 cents).
The thickness is not a government specification whereas weight and diameter is. The amount of copper in a cent is 3.11 +/- grams, the amount of zinc in the newer cents is 2.50 grams, so the copper ones are thicker because they have more metal for basically the same design and the collar doesn't let it increase the diameter so it goes higher. jim
Sometimes the teller at the bank puts the next to each other to see if they match as far as the length. I guess she doesn't know but many times I have the same outcome. Longer and shorter. I do double check but it all is different!
