that would be a first ... i never heard of one it would be worth $$$ for the effort to make sure it was copper and not zinc did you weigh it ??? what makes you think its copper and not zinc
Your coin is copper coated zinc. Generally, these are only worth keeping in mint state red. Brown, circulated examples are spending money. CamaroDMD made a nice post about the 82's: http://www.cointalk.com/t55647/
That's not a Denver cent from what I can see. They didn't mint copper 1982-D small dates, however, at least one has been found. So it is possible. They only made 17 billion cents in 1982, and yet everyone who comes in here has a 1983 copper, a 1982-D small date copper, a 1943 copper, a 1969-S doubled die, etc.
I have seen the one true specimen that was discovered. (Not in person.) Yours is a philly (no mint mark) 1982 as opposed to a 1982-D (D below the date). The small date in the highest grades does carry a small premium. But it's not the SUPER RARE one.
I have a 1982D 3.11g copper penny. And several 1982 pennies that weigh 3+ grams. Help! What do I do now? Are they worth anything?
Follow the link that BadThad posted and look at the images posted showing the difference between the large date and small date. If your 3.11 gm 1982 D has the small date then you have something good. If it is a large date it is probably spendable. You 1982 3 gm cents that don't have a D mintmark are common.
