The 82 philly small date zinc or copper has a chance (in high grades) the 82-D small or large really don't at all.
@TERRY KUNTZ You'd have a better chance of being struck by lightning while winning powerball than finding an 82D copper small date. Not worth the time nor the effort really to invest much time searching these out. Not saying I don't check one every once in awhile that seems interesting. But I certainly don't weigh each and every one that comes across my desk.
A few other off metal (copper planchet) later date cents have been found. I believe most or all from Denver. One theory here says that a cleaning crew found a few old blanks at various times, possibly stuck in weird parts of machinery. And just tossed them in a bin of zinc blanks. You can't take anything out of the mint. Which would explain why they were discovered in circulation and not clandestinely minted and smuggled out. And why there aren't a whole "planchet roll" of them. I've worked production, and done "cleans" and pieces of stuff can end up in the weirdest places. With the speeds that the machines use at the mint and the billions of cents produced, it would make sense that an occasional blank could end up in an unlikely place, and not be discovered for years, so some copper blanks could have been discovered after they were no longer in use. The different blanks look similar and you wouldn't know unless you weighed them.
Glad to see you still posting, @TERRY KUNTZ. Sometimes a snowball starts rolling and gets bigger than was intended. Or, since we’re in baseball season, a close pitch starts a brawl because of reaction instead of consideration. I have at times used the “Ignore” button for someone on CT and later gone back to remove it and appreciate the postings of those folks. I respect folks you’ve had issues with. We can all have a bad day, bad reaction, bad post. Stick around, your appreciation of the hobby will benefit. Steve
Well,...it looks like a zinc, it would probably walk and quack like a zinc...but the OP has yet to post the weight...Spark
