1983 Copper Lincoln Cent
Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2016 10:12 pmI was relaxing this past weekend a couple hours away from home with no distractions, so I decided to go through a box of around 2,000 Lincoln cents which I bought as copper from someone who was moving out of town and didn't want to have to carry them to his new home.
He said he used a Ryedale to sort, so they should all be copper. He did tell me there would likely be some Canadians in there, and there were about five, which was fine.
Of the U.S. Cents I didn't find a single one dated later than 1982 until I was about 80% of the way through the box. And then I found a 1983-D. And then for the final 20% or so of the box I didn't see a single coin dated later than 1982.
Now if I'd found 100 coins dated 1983 and later, I would have thought my chances would be less than one in a million of finding the elusive copper 1983. But I only found that single 1983-D and nothing after 1983. So my heart rate picked up a bit. Still, I figured my chances of getting a copper 1983 were less than 1%.
Since I didn't bring my gram scale with me, I'd have to wait til I got home. Well, upon arrival at home I decided to weigh the 1983 in question and it was 2.5 grams. Oh well....
He said he used a Ryedale to sort, so they should all be copper. He did tell me there would likely be some Canadians in there, and there were about five, which was fine.
Of the U.S. Cents I didn't find a single one dated later than 1982 until I was about 80% of the way through the box. And then I found a 1983-D. And then for the final 20% or so of the box I didn't see a single coin dated later than 1982.
Now if I'd found 100 coins dated 1983 and later, I would have thought my chances would be less than one in a million of finding the elusive copper 1983. But I only found that single 1983-D and nothing after 1983. So my heart rate picked up a bit. Still, I figured my chances of getting a copper 1983 were less than 1%.
Since I didn't bring my gram scale with me, I'd have to wait til I got home. Well, upon arrival at home I decided to weigh the 1983 in question and it was 2.5 grams. Oh well....