I am having a hard time determining between the 1982 small date, and the 1982 large date. Could someone post a picture of each so that I can see the difference? I appreciate this.
it's easier to see under magnification if you can't see it with your bare eye... but the 2 usually gives it away. remember that there are also the copper and zinc varieties... different weights
Look at the top two photos that Xeno posted. Notice the distance from the 2 to the rim. The top one, large date, is close to the rim. 1982) On the bottom, small date, you could just about put another 2 between the 2 and the rim. 19822)
I find the 8 to be the easiest marker for the small date 1982 cents. The upper loop on the 8 is much smaller than the bottom loop on a small date cent. On a large date cent, both the upper and lower loop of the 8 are about the same size. I have looked at hundreds of 1982 cents, and have only come up with three small date D mint cents so far. I'd like to get an entire roll collected from circulation, and it is going to take a long time to scare up 50 of these little buggers.
Also, great examples in the Red Book and in Looking Through Lincolns or on the coppercoins.com web site. But the real fun is determining which is the copper and which is the copper-plated zinc. So far I've found that only a balance beam scale is of any use.
to th e well trained eye, you can sometimes tell which is which... they both have physical differences in appearance i've found
One way to tell the zinc plated cents from the copper cents is to look at the cent under a loupe and a good light. The zinc plated cents tend to be extremely "bubbly" on the surface. This is due to the poor quality of the plating process. Now, not every single 1982 zinc plated cent looks this way, but plenty of them do. Even after all these years of making these zinc plated planchets, I occasionally still see a recently minted cent that strongly exhibits these "bubbles". I would guess from my experience looking at 1982 cents that the majority of 1982 zinc plated cents exhibit this feature to some extent. Some you can tell just by looking at them without magnification.
I thought I learned this lurking here, but the easiest way I found to tell the difference between copper and zinc is drop them on a solid/hard surface. The copper coin will "ring" and the zinc will sound dull. Now obviously you don't want to do this with a gem coin, but for 99% of 1982s pulled from rolls, this test should work fine.
this is my preferred method, itis quite simple, fast, and requires no additional tools to accomplish.
