Copper/Zinc percentages of 1982 cents???

[dbalek]

What is the percentage of copper versus zinc cents for 1982? I think they switched over from copper planchettes to zinc in October 1982.
I've heard ~75% copper to 25% zinc.

[aloneibreak]

What is the percentage of copper versus zinc cents for 1982? I think they switched over from copper planchettes to zinc in October 1982.
I've heard ~75% copper to 25% zinc.

that must be pretty close

i run right at 80% copper on the 82's

[creshka46]

I heard 75% 25% as well. I've never kept track for myself though.

[shinnosuke]

Pre-Ryedale, I weighed all my '82s. I consistently got 80+% keepers. That's the only good statistic in penny sorting in south Texas. The overall Cu ratio is painfully low.

[slvrbck]

Funny u mention this. I was just thinking the other day that it seems like the percentage of copper 82s is falling. I wonder if its from people keeping the coppers

[Bluegill]

Back when I was still sorting, my 1982 ratio was right about 80%Cu/20%Zn.

[Diggin4copper]

Not sure why, but I am always at about 40% copper and 60% zinc with 82s... been handsorting lately as the rydale is packed away for a move. Just did 80 dollars in CWR ans still 40%..im in Massachusetts, must be a northeast thing...

[JobIII]

I never kept track, I would have guessed around 50/50...

[outofsort]

Interesting question. Overall I bet I am at 85+% Cu. For a while before I had a weight measuring devise, I set aside about $5 worth of 82's. Then, I seperated them into the seven types - Cu-Zn, Lg-Sm date, Denver-Philly. Where I live, I collected mostly Lg date Denver. These were easily 95% Cu. I wish I kept closer track, but the other groups seemed to be split closer to 50-50. I don't see many Sm date and Philly coins so this is underpowered and only a very rough estimate.

[Romalae]

In central Texas, it's about 75-25 in favor of the coppers...which is plausible given that the transition date was in October; approximately 3/4 into the year.

Further, I'd estimate that it could be broken down into 70% LD Copper, 5% SD Copper, 15% LD Zinc, and 10% SD Zinc. It's interesting that I rarely find SD Coppers, I really wish I knew why that is. Does anyone have any detailed, official information about the die varieties of that year?

[jmaii]

Just sorted some 1982s by hand last night (about 50). Around 80% coppers. I went so long without hitting a zinc that I thought I was doing something wrong, but the consensus from a few Google searches was 75/25 copper.

[scyther]

Just sorted some 1982s by hand last night (about 50). Around 80% coppers. I went so long without hitting a zinc that I thought I was doing something wrong, but the consensus from a few Google searches was 75/25 copper.

Yeah, when I weigh them I probably get 90+% copper, but I do throw aside some that seem to obviously be zinc before I weigh them.

[TheJonasCollegeFund]

The country's 4th quarter, or end of the year, ends at the end of September. So, October 1st starts the "new year" for the government. That gives us 3 months of zinc 1982 pennies. And if production was constant, the copper to zinc should be 75% to 25%.

[StoreOfValue]

Posted below I have some fairly reliable data I compiled a couple of years ago. First I found some anecdotal data from coppercoins.com (not a large sample size @ less than 1,000 coins), so I decided to compile my own data because I have never spent or turned in a 1982 cent and I hand sort EVERYTHING. I will explain the best I can what the data refers to.

First, the data on the left is actual usmint.gov statistics for Philadelphia and Denver. The first two numbers after each type coin are my percentage and totals from about 8,500 pennies. My data is skewed to overweight Denver (most certainly because of living in NM). I am also probably overweight copper (90% compared to expected 75-80%) due to sorting many of my coins from bullion purchases the last several years. Finally, the last set of numbers (in the millions and billions) I extrapolated from the ACTUAL data I compiled accounting for the ACTUAL mint statistics from Philadelphia & Denver. The percentages you see (not in bold) are the percent of total Philadelphia, percent of total Denver, percent of total Coppers, percent of total Zincs. The bold percentages represent the percents comparing only Philadelphia/Denver & Copper/Zinc. I believe this data to be close to accurate at least if you compare Zinc to Zinc or Copper to Copper. I eventually would like to extrapolate further based on the error in my P & D statistics.


Philadelphia 56.24%
10,712,525,000
64.05%
1982 P Lg Zinc 11.05% 537 1,183,424,383
1982 P Sm Zinc 0.45% 22 48,482,936
1982 P Lg Copper 85.72% 4,167 9,183,108,758
1982 P Sm Copper 2.78% 135 297,508,923

Denver 43.76%
6,012,979,368
35.95%
1982 D Lg Zinc 2.43% 92 146,270,254
1982 D Sm Zinc 5.26% 199 316,388,920
1982 D Lg Copper 92.31% 3,491 5,550,320,194

Coppers 90.17%
1982 P Lg Copper 53.47% 4,167
1982 P Sm Copper 1.73% 135
1982 D Lg Copper 44.80% 3,491

Zincs 9.83%
1982 P Lg Zinc 63.18% 537
1982 P Sm Zinc 2.59% 22
1982 D Lg Zinc 10.82% 92
1982 D Sm Zinc 23.41% 199

Sorry the data is not as clean as the spreadsheet from which it came.
-Mark

[LooseChange]

I couldn't resist making a few graphs when I saw the above data posted. I doubt anyone else has kept track of more than 8,500 1982s. Even though your data is location specific, I can imagine over the last 31 years, the 82s have had a good time to mix up (Denver/Philly and Copper/Zinc)

Copper_Zinc_Ratio.JPG (16.06 KiB) Viewed 651 times

82 Copper Breakdown.JPG (19.46 KiB) Viewed 651 times

82 Zinc Breakdown.JPG (21.19 KiB) Viewed 651 times

[StoreOfValue]

Thanks for the visual.

[Morsecode]

Not sure why, but I am always at about 40% copper and 60% zinc with 82s... been handsorting lately as the rydale is packed away for a move. Just did 80 dollars in CWR ans still 40%..im in Massachusetts, must be a northeast thing...

But here in CT, I always seemed to get 75% cu. That was as recently as a year ago when I last sorted cents.

[Zincanator]

I save all '82s, then sort them on a rainy day. I'd say the results are pretty dang near close to what the pie charts indicate.