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I have recently started collecting 1982 and older copper pennies for their copper content.
While sorting through them I discovered that some 1982 pennies weigh less than 3.1 grams and some 1983 pennies weigh 3.1 grams.
What do you think the copper value of these coins are, and is there any extra value because they are rare?

Pennies were switched in 1982 from a 95%/5% copper/zinc composition to a 97.5%/2.5% zinc/copper composition. You will find 1982 pennies of both compositions. Weighing them is the easiest way to determine if it's a copper Lincoln or a zinc Lincoln. You can drop them on a table; the coppers ring, while the zincs sound flat.

As for your 1983 pennies weighing 3.1 grams? I don't know what to tell you. It's a known fact the US mint changed the penny composition in 1982. Its possible they are 95% copper, but not likely.

Ditto the above comment.

I'm not sure if there are any known error 1983s that were struck from copper. Its not impossible I guess, but if you have found multiple ones I'd say its more likely your scale is off.

And welcome to Realcent too.

Thanks for the welcome. I must have been spaced out sorting today. I can't find that '83, 3.1 gram. I bought one of those electronic coin selectors off of ebay. While sorting I saw a bunch of '82s in the zinc pile. Until today I thought 82's had the same copper content as 81's and older. Then I saw a 83' in the copper pile, when I weighed it, it was 3.1 grams and the '82s were less than 3.1 grams. I thought the counter needed calibration so I started going through them by hand. I was down to the last ten rolls of a $25 box. So when I came across a '82 or '83 I put them aside to weigh later, I also found two wheats. Of the few '82s I found only a couple were 3.1 grams and all of the '83 were less than 3.1 grams. It beats me where I put that '83. Bye the way my scale is accurate. I wish I had discovered this site sooner. Thanks again for the feedback.

83's were found to be of the 95 % copper mix.

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ub ... ost1251645

It has been seen before apparently due to 1983 being a transitional year. As for a numismatic value? I have no clue.

A $15k coin maybe?

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_a_copper_p ... uable_coin

So weigh all your 82's and 83's.

Here's a timeline of what I know. The transition came during 1982:
Timeline of the 1982 cent
All mints began the year producing large date cents.
January 7: West Point mints zinc cents from the start. Total WP mintage 1,990,005,000. No mint mark.
Soon after, Philadelphia switched from copper to zinc.
Total Phila mintage 7,135,275,000. Nearly 600 million per month, or 19.5 million a day.
San Francisco mint 1,587,245,000 zinc cents for circulation. No mint mark.
San Francisco (S) also struck nearly 4,000,000 proof cents, all large date and copper.
September 3: all mints switch to small dates.
October 21: Denver switched from copper to zinc.
October 27: first Denver zinc cents are delivered.
Total Denver mintage: 6,012,979,368. Assumed production of 1-1.2 billion Denver zinc small dates.

On the copper-to-zinc switchover days, production stopped completely, they cleared the production floor of all planchets, then they started with zinc. If there are any 1983 copper cents, it's quite possible the copper planchets were saved by mint workers, and purposely fed into the press in order to purposely create a rarity.

Now I'm not sure about this, but I do believe the 1983 PROOF cents were still copper because they hadn't figured out yet how to keep the copper plating from cracking under the higher-pressure striking necessary for proof coins. Someone else may have to verify that statement.

Wow...I didn't know West Point made pennies in 82!

Thanks for the info, Aaron!

January 7: West Point mints zinc cents from the start. Soon after, Philadelphia switched from copper to zinc.

This explains my low copper percentage of '82s here in New England.