Realcent.org

Hi Everyone,

I stumbled upon this old cliffhanger of a NYT post:

https://www.nytimes.com/1962/07/03/arch ... onomy.html

Can anyone provide more insight on this? I thought I knew everything about the cent and come to find out in 1962 the composition of the penny changed to remove tin from the 95% copper disc and move to full 5% zinc for the remaining composition. Would love to hear any stories or articles about this. I could not find anything on google about the change so i figured someone here might have some knowledge.

Happy Hunting!

You can find related info on Wikipedia. Mostly just facts though without commentary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_(United_States_coin)

Did you know the U.S attempted to make pennies out of glass during the war?

https://news.artnet.com/market/experime ... ons-421151

There are like 11 known or something like that. The link is the most intact piece.

Yea, not a big difference, but interesting. Technically cents then were Bronze with the tin. After they were Brass. Now Zincolns?

Best cent I own is a Flying Eagle cent. I forget the year, but it is from around when Lincoln walked the earth. Those cents had a percentage of nickel in them. They will never make them like that again!

Investin Cents wrote:Best cent I own is a Flying Eagle cent. I forget the year, but it is from around when Lincoln walked the earth. Those cents had a percentage of nickel in them. They will never make them like that again!

I enjoy the one cent nickel. It is a rare combination, 1/8 nickel and 7/8 copper, even for world coinage.

The US amassed a huge tin stockpile during the 1950s as part of the strategic stockpile program for the Cold War, since we are dependent on imports for tin. I wonder if removing it from the coins had anything to do with trying to reduce non-essential applications of it.