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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,694 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
844 Posts |
Hi all!  So I have been holding onto a whole lot of 1982 cents. The reason is simple. No clue how to tell the difference of Bronze or Zinc! Is there any visual way to tell? Also, is it pretty simple and or obvious to see the difference of large and small date? Thanks all! |
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Rest in Peace
United States
3039 Posts |
Without a scale, you can make a simple see saw. On one side of a popsicle stick glue a known copper cent (pre 1982). Center the stick on a pencil (perpendicular). Put the unknown cent on the other end of the popsicle stick. If the stick balances, the unknown cent is copper. If the known copper cent dips down, the unknown is zinc. Simple enough.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3077 Posts |
i use my ear I flip and listen for the ring(copper rings zinc dont) and if ya lay em all out the small date will show itself, its the one that looks like a snow man
the version for me that is hard to find is the large date D zinc NC is a fer peice from Denver
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
844 Posts |
I have a small scale that has an Alligator clip on it. So the Zinc will be lighter? I thought that all pennies other than maybe the 1943 weighed the same? I guess that kind of explains why you don't see vending machines that accept pennies. Great info. I'll keep an eye out for little "snow men".
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4000 Posts |
Also, on the small and large dates, look at the distance of the date and motto in relation to the rim. If it is at/near the rim, it is a large date. If there is a noticeable difference in the distance, it is a small date. Here's a good visual also: http://www.thecentproject.com/sort1982.php |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3592 Posts |
Maybe I've seen too many but the small date jumps out at me..if you have a bunch just start looking. I use the popsicle stick balance similar to numismo...takes about 2 seconds
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Pillar of the Community
United States
844 Posts |
Well, I've gone through about 250 1982's now. I think I have the hang of it.! Thank you guys for the help!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3077 Posts |
it would be interesting to know what the totals are for each that you found
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7629 Posts |
Actually the sound method is a lot faster and a lot easier than the scale method - but each to his or her own.
I did win a $100 bet once that I couldn't sort a baggie full faster than a dealer with a scale. I did it in less than a fourth the time. Just started dropping them on the table and shoving them side to side according to the noise they made.
With regard to the large versus small date - the difference is very easy to see. The small date has much sharper, thinner lettering everywhere, and the whole design looks 'fresh'. The large date has distorted, mushy, fat lettering.
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Valued Member
Canada
221 Posts |
I always thought the bottom of the 2 on the left side were different The large date has a straight slant to the bottom left corner and the small date has a noticeable downward crook on the bottom left corner. Please correct me if I'm wrong  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7629 Posts |
I've frankly never paid that much attention to them to be able to describe small differences. These came out when I was a teenager, and I always thought the difference was very easy to tell at a glance. Just about everything on the coin changes from large to small date, but the mot noticeable difference is that everything on the design is fatter on the large date, while everything is thinner and more precise on the small date.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
You are right. There are a lot of differences between the large and small dates and several different ways to tell them apart.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
844 Posts |
Well, I got through sorting out the 1982's according to large and small date, and mint marks. I'm using clean pill bottles to temporarily store them during this process. So far the rough totals are: Three full bottles of Large dates, and 1/2 bottle of small dates. When dividing them up by mint marks it was 1982 and 1982D, half and half. I'm from Indiana so I'm sure it may be different in different areas. I'll give a more precise totals when I get done with it all.
I used the same size pill bottles on this comparison.
Edited by Jaymon74
02/18/2011 10:49 pm
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,694 |
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Posted 02/03/2011 11:20 pm
