Seeking knowledge on 1974 pennies

[bush13st_beav3r]

So, I do a lot of penny crh'ing, saving all the copper ones, foreign coinage, and of course wheaties....never found an ih or any other goodies...(curious as to any other coins anyone has found in penny rolls?)... I have a TON of 1974....they don't have that old Browning that all my other coppers have, my inquisitive nature got me to searching the ol' interwebs and I found out they did quite a bit of coin experimenting in 73/74(work began in 73, coins were supposedly stamped 74, although I do have some uniquely colored 73's).... So, my question is,

-are any of the 74's copper? Or should I take them out of my copper jar...

- If they are aluminum alloy, what way is best to tell(very unlikely since the prototypes were given to congress to show off. Extras were "destroyed")...

-what other kinds of alloys/metal compositions were used these years

-do any of them have intrinsic value/numismatic value

I will take pics tonight....I'm going to go through my copper jar and get all the 74's and funny lookin 73's out ....will take me awhile....probly have 200$ in pennies or so


-beav3r

 

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[sagittarius98]

All 1974s should be copper. The aluminum ones are white and only 2 remain. If you want to see one, the Smithsonian has one.

 

[Generic_Lad]

Aluminum is super light weight when it is used for coins. Trust me, you know when you've got an aluminum coin. Plus, it would not be copper coloured at all.

 

[huntsman53]

They were probably minted using Planchets that were made with an improper composition (i.e. either too much copper or too much Zinc)!


Frank

 

[DaytonaRacer]

When you find out the answer to this let me know. I've been wondering why an excessive amount of '74s that I come across all look to be in far better shape than the years before and after.

 

[bush13st_beav3r]

Yeah, me too... I don't think I have but maybe 5 '74 pennies that have the good brown coloring of all my other pre82's ...noticed it when I first started sorting and hoarding, finally had to start researching and asking about it when I got a roll of pennies with 25 1974's.. ...that alone made me ? If they are indeed copper at all..

-beav3r