Realcent.org

So I have the following questions on this topic:

1. Can you tell which ones had pre '82 cents used?
2. Are any worth more than others?
3. Do you do anything with these, stacking-wise?

Got an old one today from Wildwood!

Best way to tell if it’s pre ‘82 is to weigh it. 2.5 grams is zinc and 3.1 grams is copper. Sometimes on elongated zinc cents there will be a grey “coating” on the opposite side of the image.

Thanks. I didn't know if any of the weight would get shaved off during that process or not.

My son has a bunch of these that he used to love getting made whenever he saw one of these machines. Without checking, I'd guess maybe 20-ish of his are zinc. By no means is a sample of 20 enough for a universal rule, but for his I can definitely tell just by looking at them. When it sandwiches and elongates, the copper on the outer long edges will pull away, exposing the zinc.

Nice!

Yep you can tell by sight. We use those machines when on vacation sometimes. I always try to use a copper cent. If you put the coin in the machine right you can make the impression on the reverse side and the other side will have the date which can still be read. You have a 50/50 chance of putting it in correctly the first time, so use a Zincoln for the first impression!

https://www.parkpennies.com/penny/pennies-per-pound.htm good stuff here

TXSTARFIRE wrote:Yep you can tell by sight. We use those machines when on vacation sometimes. I always try to use a copper cent. If you put the coin in the machine right you can make the impression on the reverse side and the other side will have the date which can still be read. You have a 50/50 chance of putting it in correctly the first time, so use a Zincoln for the first impression!

Oh wow, I didn't know this. Very cool, thank you for sharing.

An elongated tourist- I assume a basketball player would be an example!

Lol

Another thread about these:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4763&p=43566