2006 Copper Spike's Effect On Circulating 1 Penny Coins

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Author	Replies: 6 / Views: 1,881
Ben Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 4208 Posts	Posted 08/22/2012 12:57 pm I read about the Copper spike in 2006 when Copper 1p and 2p coins metal content exceeded the face value of the coin. 1ps ended up at nearly 1.5p and 2ps reached 3p for a while. I thought, what effect has this had on the current circulation of 1p coins? Well, I've looked at mint figures and so I sorted my pennies into bags. I have a box to keep pennies in, its got roughly 1,500 pennies in it right now, so I sorted them using a magnet - Copper plated steel in one, bronze in another. Well, it was shocking, the result. My scales couldnt handle the large volume of steel pennies, so I split the pennies into 1kg bags, ending up with 4 full bags of steel pennies and a bag containing 184g left over. The copper penny bag weighed in at 974g. Now, the mint claims that 8 165 558 350 bronze pennies were minted and (im lazy so I didnt count up the figures exactly for this one) 12 620 000 000 copper plated steel pennies have been minted. Thats 2 bronze pennies for every 3 copper pennies. Expected: 2:3 Realised: 1:4.295 What are peoples thoughts? Report this Post to the Staff

MikeG Valued Member United Kingdom 128 Posts	Posted 08/23/2012 03:22 am Well the first thought Ben was that you have far too much spare time on your hands, LOL. Second thought was perhaps scrap companies have made a sorting machine to reject the magnetic ones and are melting down the bronze ones and selling it for scrap? I'll have to look through mine and see what ratio I have. Mike. Report this Post to the Staff
Ben Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 4208 Posts	Posted 08/23/2012 11:57 am I know that there are machines designed to sort steel and copper pennies into seperate bags - they are used in America, but I didnt think people would be melting down Lizzy! Report this Post to the Staff
nod2003 Pillar of the Community United States 3294 Posts	Posted 08/23/2012 12:08 pm Why would America have a machine t sort steel and copper pennies apart? We only used steel pennies in 1943 and they are pretty much not in circulation these days. Report this Post to the Staff
Anaximander Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 709 Posts	Posted 08/24/2012 03:03 am I don't think the maths will be quite that simple. There is always a slight loss of coins from circulation, caused by things such as hoarding, simple loss, collectors ( us!! ) and so on. I would guess that this loss increases slightly year on year. To make your expected ratio more realistic, I think you would need to reduce the number of coins in each category by some factor weighted partly by year of production. As the bronze coins were produced first they would be affected more. I have no idea how to calculate this. Does anyone know where we could find statistics on loss of coins from circulation? Report this Post to the Staff
enworb Pillar of the Community Australia 4411 Posts	Posted 08/24/2012 03:18 am Quote: Why would America have a machine t sort steel and copper pennies apart? We only used steel pennies in 1943 and they are pretty much not in circulation these days. I figure the poster means sort copper and zinc pennies, not steel. Is the copper content of bronze 1p and 2p in the UK more than face value? If so then I would imagine that some hoarding might be going on as it is in the US. I would also say a large portion of the disparity between expected and observed ratios is due to natural loss because of age and length in circulation. It could also have something to do with where you live and how coins are distributed. Report this Post to the Staff
Ben Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 4208 Posts	Posted 08/24/2012 05:06 am I did mean Zinc pennies, thanks. The face value is 1p and 2p, the metal content is below that, but in 2006 it shot over it. I assume people have hoarded since then too. Scrap what was here, I'm not going to check them off by each other, I already know the ratio is off and this is to prove that time doesn't have a massive effect on circulating coinage. Wellllll, I might check them off, but id need an unseperated sample size of Â£2.16 and banks dont roll like that. First off, 1/36 copper pennies should be a 1991 penny. This is the first principal I shall check, using up to 360 coins if possible. Results of that: Very good, exactly as predicted with a small sample size. 216 pennies tested, 6 1991s found, exactly as predicted, 1/36. This shows the loss was indiscriminate - if the coins total figure were drastically affected by the 20 years age gap, then the sample should have turned up more 1991 pennies. Edited by Ben 08/24/2012 05:44 am Report this Post to the Staff
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