how do you tell the difference between a red cent and all the others

I thought the all started out red??????

 

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You are correct, they all start out red, with the exception of the ones minted in 1943. The picture you have posted would be classified with a color of brown. A red cent is nothing more than a cent that has retained it's original red color as it came from the mint.

 

It's

 

Red = Bright copper

 

From Cassell's Dictionary of Slang by Jonathon Green, pg. 1182.

red cent n. (also blue cent, red copper, red penny, white quarter) [mid-19C+] (US) a trivial amount of money, usu. in phr. not a/one red cent, absolutely nothing of (cf. CENT n.) [the copper colour of a cent; the blue cent may refer to the blue cardboard ration tokens issued in US during WW2 as payment for processed foods (meat tokens were red)]

* OPA Rations tokens (red and blue)

 

Got a bag of 'um.