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Message:: [QUOTE="Collecting Nut, post: 26316185, member: 74863"]Mostly copper but the Flying Eagle Cents were 88% copper and 12% nickel as were the first years of the Indian Head Cent. In 1864, due to cents disappearance during the Civil War, the copper was changed to 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc. Inn1943 cents were made from steel and coated with zinc. In 1944 cents were 95% copper and 5% zinc but that was changed back to 5% tin and zinc in 1947. A metal changed occurred in 1959 with the introduction of the Lincoln Memorial Cent which was 95% copper and 5% zinc. This lasted until mid 1982 went thy he cost if copper was high enough to reduce the cent to 99.2% zinc and .8% copper in the core with a copper coating of pure copper. This made the cent 20% lighter than the copper cents.It remained this way until 2009. The circulation Lincoln Bicentennial Cents were the same but the Special Satin-Finish coins were 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc. The finally change occurred in 2010 with the introduction of the Shield Cents. They have a core of 99.2% zinc and .007 copper with a pure copper coating. This brings the total metal content to 97.5% zinc and .025 copper. So basically, cents were made of copper but a number of factors can go into the coloring of appearance of the coin. Copper is soft and malleable which was ideal for making coins in the early days. Technology had not advanced to where it is today.[/QUOTE]