Bronze 1983 cent?

@JobIII Nice work. What made you single this coin out to take the time to weigh it? It's cool you did. Most folks would have just passed over it.

 

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This was found in a very large collection of pennies, machine sorted for copper content.

So it was actually just luck that I weighed it, rather than toss it into the zinc pile thinking it was just mistakenly in the copper bucket.

 

This explains why I had an 83 cent that was brass underneath when I scratched its surface. But I didn't believe my eyes, so I think I put it in the bag to be returned to the bank. Ooops.

 

Why would you do that?
Weighing a coin is the only way to tell the difference.
Scales are only $10
You can make one with a pencil and a popsicle stick.

 

I didn't think it would be worth anything. But, hey, it may be back in circulation soon, so keep your eyes peeled.

The znc pennies are white underneath the 2.5% copper plating. I usually only scratch the 1982 pennies, but this 83 looked like a brass penny, so I got curious.

I do have a balance, a nice one, but it's packed away and a PITA to get it out and use it.

 

Why on earth would you do this to any coin, let alone an 83 you think is copper? You seem to be looking for the valuable 1982-D copper by ruining every 1982 coin you check. I don't get it. If you did happen to find something valuable, your "test" took hundreds or thousands of dollars off the value.

 

Strait Up!

 

Knucklehead

 

Not looking for an 82-D copper. Wouldn't those have turned green by now?

I did come by a coin recently with a green area, maybe 10% of the surface. Seemed odd. Can it be a copper penny?

 

So why are you scratching them? Just hoarding copper? Drop a copper cent and a zinc one on a hard surface and learn to tell the difference the sound makes. I taught my 13 year old this years ago and he could instantly pick out the copper ones.

 

Actually, I save all the 82's and after a few years I get out the balance. I only scratched a couple of them lately.

 

I think purposefully scratching a coin is a bit triggering to this community.

ring test
weight test

Are two great alternatives. weighing is probably best in everyway.

 

Yeah, there is zero need to be destructive.

 

I can't think of any reason to hoard 82's but whatever floats your boat. Once I found all 7 types I spent them. None of them are worth anything in circulated condition and you're never going to find the 82-D SD copper.

 

Wow that coin auction ended just under 30k. I stopped watching while it was still under 10k.

 

Just got this one at Lowes today. Should I scratch it to see if it's real? LOL! It's a friggin 1905 in great shape. How is that even possible? My grandma had a 1910 that could have been a 1909, 1908, 1906, etc, etc, couldn't even read it.

 

There are DDO'