There are several ways to tell if your penny is zinc or copper. First and most easily, if your penny is dated 1983 or later, it is zinc. For pennies dated 1982, it could be either zinc or copper. The simplest way to tell without using machinery is to weigh your penny with a scale that reads to the tenth of a gram. A copper penny weighs 3.11 grams while a zinc penny ways 2.5 grams. Though keep in mind, circulated coins do gather dirt, corrosion, etc. So the weight could be slightly off for individual coins.

In general, if your penny is dated 1959 to 1981 (with the exception of 1943), you can rest assured your penny is a copper penny.

There are rare exceptions to the above for telling if your penny is zinc or copper.

Hi, I am new to all of this. I am hoping someone could tell me the value of this 1982 D Penny Small date? I have three more 1982 pennies. One without the mint and another one with the D with a large Date. 1982 d by: Dallas I have a total of 62 1982 d penny’s. Don’t know if small or large date would like to know how to determine value or someone intrested just make an offer can be contacted by text or in fb Dallas marcum Coffeeville ms.

The U.S. mint had minted a small amount of error copper pennies in 1983. If your penny is dated earlier than 1982, it is copper.

In 1943, copper was heavily in demand to be used in war materials for World War II. Because of this, the 1943 penny was made of steel. There was a small amount of error pennies minted of copper in 1943.

If you have a 1983 copper penny or 1943 copper penny, that could potentially be a rare and valuable find!

We sort pennies into zinc pennies or copper pennies so that way you can buy copper pennies or buy zinc pennies efficiently and easily.

1982 D Penny Worth Money