do you have an easy way to seperate pre 1982 cents?

I can't just go throught them by hand, anyone out there find a way to sort these out?

 

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I usually go through them by hand when i roll search or get change back. After a while, you can tell just by looking at a coins finish if it's copper or zinc. Most of the older copper stuff has a nice brown look to it while zinc tends to look shiney even when dull.

For the '82's i bounce test them. Zinc thuds while copper rings.

 

metal detector. i just get some old batteries and put them in the detecor and do this. after i'm done i put the metal decting batteries back in. i can make mine where it dosn't make a sound when you put a zinc cent on the coil. if you put a copper on there, it sounds. alot better than looking at the tiny dates.

 

I thought I saw a machine that sorted them out. it was in a youtube vid or something like that.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSaJQZxhcqo

found it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM9RnDJo9D0

 

I wish i had time to go roll searching and pull out the copper.

 

http://ryedalecoin.com/Products.html

I just found this, it may not work but take a peek, there is one for $150, but I would need ind confirmation that it works

 

Obviously not a lot of coin collectors on this one. I could just imagine how an 09S VDB would look running though those machines. May as well use a blow torch. From one extreme to another. There are people on coin forums saying how they use cotton gloves to touch coins and then there are those that use machines to scratch them all.

 

how bad will this be on coins (I am sure that coins get MUCH worse treatment at the mint and rolling companies).:hammer:

 

Just go to any coin store or coin show. Look at coins with scratches and you'll see a massive reduction in value. Check out any price guide. You'll notice that at the normal low grades the prices go upward gradually but when you hit the MS grades, the values sky rocket. Each scratch, mark, dent lowers the price. Those machines all do a little and the more machines the more the scratches. Sort of like dragging your fingernails across the Mona Lisa Oil Painting. If your not a coin collector, who cares. But if your are a coin collector you try to obtain the highest qualtiy coin available and if people continuously run coins through such machines, the amount of high grade coins continuously deminishes. Sort of like throwing rocks at a 1957 Chevy. There are only so many out there.

 

A cheap weight scale that weighs in grams will do the trick!


Frank

 

But my point is that these coins have all been subject to much worse machines at banks, the mint and rolling companies. It seems that this machine will do far less damage than the other machines they have already gone through. That being said we are not talking about gems here, these are all pre '82 circ cents.

 

As I noted EACH additional mark lowers the value. As to PRE 82 circ cents, just how pre are you referring to? Pre indicates prior to so that means your meaning there is no problem ruining a 72 Double Die, 70S small date, 84 Double Ear and/or as far back as a 14D? Or are you referring to POST 1982 coins meaning it is OK to scratch up 95 Double Dies, wide AM 98 or 99?
No, any ADDITIONAL markings do not help increase the value of a coin. If you went to a car show and saw a Ferrari in perfect condition worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and it had one small scratch on it, would that mean people should add more scratches to it now? If there was a scratch on the Mona Lisa Painting, would it then be OK to add more? If the Mints machines add on scratch to a coin, should we all add many more? Makes little sence to ruin things further since it has already started by others.

 

The $150 one doesn't include a hopper, which I would consider pretty important. Now, if only I could get one to separate the Canadian nickels for me, I'd be all of it like a pack of dogs on a three-legged cat!

 

Didn't we just have this same question in another thread?

A pencil balance remains the easiest and quickest way to sort them. Put a regular six-sided pencil crosswise on another one, and put a cent on each end. Use a post-'82 zinc cent on one end. If the questioned one is heavier, it is copper.

I can test a roll of cents this way in just about a minute. Using my .01g scale it takes almost twice as long.

 

I think the biggest question should be what purpose are we separating the coins for? I can actually do it quickest by hand, looking at the dates. The only time I would need to weigh them is in sorting out the 1982 cents.

If you are looking to hoard copper for it's bullion value, that is one thing. If you are doing this for numismatic purposes, then you should probably be looking at the coins with a little more care, and just carl's points become obvious. One method will not work for the other, and vice versa.

 

Can you do 300 an minute? I am guessing that we are living in a time like the late 1960's. People will look back and say, "why the heck didn't I put those silver quarters away", I mean, "why didn't I put those copper cents away".

 

If it's the copper your after, there is naturally a simple method. It's called a blow torch. Or a decent fire with an iron pot over it. You heat the coins and the ones that turn to a lump of Copper were the pre 82 ones. Of course don't forget to invite the Feds to come watch so they don't think your melting anything valuable. :whistle::whistle:
Of course a cooler method would be to just dump all your coins in Sulfuric Acid. You will end up with Copper Sulfate. Now just mix with the proper Nitrates and you have a vegitation killer. OH, the coins will naturally be lost.

 

I don't have a buyer for copper cents, but I do have a buyer for pure nickel coins. So while I collect both, there are two big advantages to sorting through nickels, rather than cents, at this point in time. Higher profit per coin, and ability to sell.

 

Not for melting them, but I feel pretty comfortable saying that a copper cent will be worth 5 cents in 5 to 10 years.