I've had this 1982 D small date bronze with environmental damage has all the characteristics of a small date though I'm going to clean this penny
No offense intended Willy, but you really have to tone down on the pixels, especially if you are using a USB scope. Otherwise I fear you will get more ribbing than actual help. Please also try using the "Full Image" feature before you post. It makes life easier for everybody who looks at your posts. Thanks. Tom
Look how BIG that 8 is too .... And I have that 1 in my basement in my penny hoard. I just haven't checked yet.
Correction. In my haste, I posted the mintage for the Denver production for that year, I came upon this: The Mint has never released the mintage breakdown for the 1982 types of cents, other than reporting the total number of one cent coins minted at each mint. Philadelphia - 10,712,525,000 Denver - 6,012,979,368 They made 17 billion cents and most of them are LD but we don't know how many are Small Dates. I think they switched to zinc towards the end of the year, so there are more copper 1982's than zinc. I don't know when they went to the Small Date, but I imagine 20% of the coins are SD and 80% LD. That still makes 2 billion Philly small dates, 1 billion copper, 1 billion zinc, and that makes 1 billion Denver small date zinc. In 1964 they minted a HUGE amount of coins, I assume to use up all the silver. Did they do the same thing in 1982 to use up all the copper? But that makes no sense. For 1 thing we don't need 17 billion pennies. That's almost 20 years worth. Another thing, nickels are 75% copper. OK these rolls are already alloyed at 95% copper, and 5% tin and zinc, while nickels are 75% copper and 25% nickel. It would hardly breech the integrity of the nickel if the composition was 72% copper 3% tin and zinc and 25% nickel for a year or 2.
