Realcent.org

"ANACS has certified its second 1983 Lincoln cent struck in a copper alloy. The coin, which weighs 3.08 grams, is described on the holder as being struck on a bronze blank and struck through grease. The firm graded the coin Extremely Fine 45.

The anonymous collector said he found it in a roll from a box of 50 rolls obtained from a bank in Washington, D.C., and indicated he will be putting it up for sale.

ANACS previously certified another 1983 cent as being struck on a “bronze blank” in late 2011 or early 2012, which weighed 3.04 grams and was graded by the firm as AU50. That coin can be viewed on the Internet at Coin Community Forum under the U.S. Modern Variety and Error Coins category.

The latest find is of an interesting composition with J.P. Martin, senior numismatist, saying ANACS commissioned a spectrographic analysis to determine its complete metallic composition. The results determined the coin to be 93.3556 percent copper, .009 percent silver, 6.5138 percent zinc, 0.0434 percent nickel, and 0.772 percent iron."

More continued in source article: https://www.numismaticnews.net/article/ ... alloy-cent

It is AMAZING that a Heritage auction was only able to fetch around $1,500 for something this rare. I would think, if advertised properly to the right audience, it could receive much, much more than that. The authors of the book Strike it Rich with Pocket Change assigned an estimated value of $15,000 to it, which is more in line with what I think it is really worth. If I had the disposable money right now and could find the current owner, I'd offer them $3,000 on the spot- an easy way for them to double their money.

Also, it is interesting that a device could determine that the copper penny had .009 silver in it. Now that is quite precise!

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if there was a decent bit more out there. Unless you want to weigh every 1983, there is really no way of telling the difference. And weighing every 1983 you come across could be a painful process for very little return.

When I sort I always throw the 83s in a pile and weigh them when I weigh the 82s. There is also a double die for the 83P if I remember correctly and I have been hanging on to those to check when I have nothing else to do.

tt

SilverBandit22 wrote:I honestly wouldn't be surprised if there was a decent bit more out there. Unless you want to weigh every 1983, there is really no way of telling the difference. And weighing every 1983 you come across could be a painful process for very little return.

I do weigh each and every 1983 cent that I find, and have been doing so for perhaps 5 years or so. So far I have found.....ZERO of them.

What do you weigh them on? Brand, size, etc...?
I have saved all that I have found of them for years but have never started the weighing process!

I do weigh each and every 1983 cent that I find, and have been doing so for perhaps 5 years or so. So far I have found.....ZERO of them.[/quote]

Pam: Sorry for the delayed response. I weigh my pennies on the following scake:

Digital Pocket Scale
Model: US- Stinger

About 2” x 3” (can easily fit in a shirt pocket)
Uses 2 AAA batteries
Capacity: 500grams x 0.1g
Weighs in g, ct, oz, dwt
Has a tare feature included
Cost approx. $12-15
Have used it a lot!

Thanks recyclersteve!
I will start checking on Ebay and Amazon for one.

AGgressive Metal wrote:"ANACS has certified its second 1983 Lincoln ...cent struck in a copper alloy.

The results determined the coin to be 93.3556 percent copper, .009 percent silver, 6.5138 percent zinc, 0.0434 percent nickel, and 0.772 percent iron."

I was unaware that US cents have silver in them. It means that each CTU has around 3 grams of silver.

That would be considered an accidental trace element. Look hard enough at the atomic level and you can probably find most of the periodic table.

68Camaro wrote:That would be considered an accidental trace element. Look hard enough at the atomic level and you can probably find most of the periodic table.

What Camero said, but also consider that copper zinc and silver are often found in the same or at least geologically similar mines in Nevada or Arizona etc, where US coin metal comes from. During the refining process its not unreasonable that, in certain batches, you'd have 0.009% silver as part of the trace impurity in the copper or zinc ingots. Also this was clearly a rare error, so you can't really extrapolate - who can imagine how 0.77% iron got in there!

Recyclersteve wrote:It is AMAZING that a Heritage auction was only able to fetch around $1,500 for something this rare. I would think, if advertised properly to the right audience, it could receive much, much more than that. The authors of the book Strike it Rich with Pocket Change assigned an estimated value of $15,000 to it, which is more in line with what I think it is really worth. If I had the disposable money right now and could find the current owner, I'd offer them $3,000 on the spot- an easy way for them to double their money.

Also, it is interesting that a device could determine that the copper penny had .009 silver in it. Now that is quite precise!

That would suck if you bought one for 15K just before someone discovered the BU 83 copper hoard. It could happen