i actually have another question about a different penny. i have one where its missing a side. arent pennys made whole or are they two seperate pieces then filled in?
A blank planchet is fed in between two dies (and inside a collar). The dies come together and strike the coin. Both sides are struck at once. (It would be impossible to strike only one side. Equal and opposite reaction thing.)
But if TWO planchets get fed in at the same time you can have two one sided coins. (one of them will also be a partial collar, and neither of them will be flat and smooth on the blank side.) This does happen but it tends to be very rare.
Absolutely. And both newly-struck one-sided coins will have been struck on the blank side. (They will have been struck by the blank face of the other planchet.)
can you weigh the coin? then we can tell if it was made before or after 1982; i bet it would be worth more if it was the heavier copper coin from before 1982.