What to do with 82s?

[trololol]

What to do with 82's?

Well i pulled out all the 82's from my copper jar and ended up with about $3 face in 82 pennies. Cash em in for face? Put them all in as copper? I don't wanna weigh 300 pennies for the sake of $1 face in copper cents. Anything you guys recommend? Sound test is BS, so I'm gonna veer from that. I guess this is where the Ryedale comes in handy :P

 

[azlegends]

Re: What to do with 82's?

Im in the same kinda situation, I started hoarding pennies before I got a scale. So now I have about 2 pounds of 82's that I just really don't want to sort, lol.

 

[Ginkawa]

Re: What to do with 82's?

personally I'm gonna try ebaying them, dunno if anyone will go for it, but I haven't a clue what I plan to do if nobody wants them. might just stick em in a pile all by their lonesome and ignore them.

 

[OmegaMan]

Re: What to do with 82's?

Try the sound test on a glass top table. If that don't work, turn up your hearing aid.

 

[baddbluff]

Re: What to do with 82's?

You can use a very accurate dig scale or EVEN BETTER... I use a old balance scale. Put a 2010 penny on one side (zinc) and put the 82s on the other ... if zinc, they will balance (equal weight), if copper, the 82 will tip the scale (heavier). SUPER EASY TO TELL!

What you should really do... get a second job w/the time you look through pennies, stop looking through pennies, and save $500 for a box of halves... that's where the $ is and it's the most satisfying when you find something!
(Example: 1 box of pennies, 1 hour of work ----> 20 wheats = 40 cent profit = 40 cents/hour); 1 box of halves, 15 minutes work ----> 1 40% half = $4.50 profit = $18/hour!) Isn't a no-brainer what to search? Just buy them & dump them somewhere on the east coast so they don't interfere with my boxes.

HH

Baddbluff

 

[ArkieBassMan]

Re: What to do with 82's?

... I don't wanna weigh 300 pennies for the sake of $1 face in copper cents...

You answered your own question. Its very simple - either you go through the additional hassle of determining what your 1982s are composed of, or you just dump them. You cannot count them as copper if you aren't certain. Trying to sell cents that are possibly zinc as copper (especially when it isn't that difficult to distinguish between the two) is fraud in my opinion.

 

[Ginkawa]

Re: What to do with 82's?

... I don't wanna weigh 300 pennies for the sake of $1 face in copper cents...

You answered your own question. Its very simple - either you go through the additional hassle of determining what your 1982s are composed of, or you just dump them. You cannot count them as copper if you aren't certain. Trying to sell cents that are possibly zinc as copper (especially when it isn't that difficult to distinguish between the two) is fraud in my opinion.

just to clarify, what I was talking about is selling them as they are, specifically saying that they are just whatever 82 pennies I've found, unchecked, ect. I'm sure some will assume that I really DID check them and its just the zinc ones, but thats ok. if I could get rid of them, lose no money, and get a positive ebay feedback from it, that'd be worth it to me.

 

[MIhunter]

Re: What to do with 82's?

I weigh my 1982s with a $6 scale that I bought on amazon.com. It takes an extra minute per box of pennies. If you dont want to weigh your 1982s dont keep them!

 

[trololol]

Re: What to do with 82's?

You can use a very accurate dig scale or EVEN BETTER... I use a old balance scale. Put a 2010 penny on one side (zinc) and put the 82s on the other ... if zinc, they will balance (equal weight), if copper, the 82 will tip the scale (heavier). SUPER EASY TO TELL!

What you should really do... get a second job w/the time you look through pennies, stop looking through pennies, and save $500 for a box of halves... that's where the $ is and it's the most satisfying when you find something!
(Example: 1 box of pennies, 1 hour of work ----> 20 wheats = 40 cent profit = 40 cents/hour); 1 box of halves, 15 minutes work ----> 1 40% half = $4.50 profit = $18/hour!) Isn't a no-brainer what to search? Just buy them & dump them somewhere on the east coast so they don't interfere with my boxes.

HH

Baddbluff

Good idea with the balance scale. CRH is starting to be real hard due to dump problems, as well as pickup problems. So I'm stickin with CRW and Pennies till winter break comes along. Going to Florida for Labor Day weekend, yup I'm still going to CRH when I'm on vacation. My mommma bought me el bricko of pennies, and after school im gonna head to a Wells Fargo bout 2 miles away from home. If they have halves or dimes of course.

 

[Scott (Mich)]

Re: What to do with 82's?

I myself drop them on the table and can tell by how they ring, a thud would be zinc, a bell sound would be copper. But seeing as you do not want to do it that way - do you have a metal detector with a meter of some sort? I know on my Whites V3i the copper pennies are higher on the scale then the zinc ones. If you have a detector unhook the coil from the rod, set it next to you and wave every '82 over it while watching the meter. You can check where the 83 and newer cents are compared to the 81 and older cents on the meter.

Good Luck.

 

[CPL]

Re: What to do with 82's?

I personally use the drop test. By the way, I love your username!

 

[FormerTeller]

Re: What to do with 82's?

What you should really do... get a second job w/the time you look through pennies, stop looking through pennies, and save $500 for a box of halves... that's where the $ is and it's the most satisfying when you find something!
(Example: 1 box of pennies, 1 hour of work ----> 20 wheats = 40 cent profit = 40 cents/hour); 1 box of halves, 15 minutes work ----> 1 40% half = $4.50 profit = $18/hour!) Isn't a no-brainer what to search? Just buy them & dump them somewhere on the east coast so they don't interfere with my boxes.

So many issues with this reply, where to start?

save $500 for a box of halves... that's where the $ is and it's the most satisfying when you find something!

Most satisfying is entirely a matter of opinion. I go through at least a couple boxes of halves a week, but I still go through cents, as they're just as satisfying to me and far more productive. As far as where the $ is, that depends on what you're looking for and what you do with it (see below).

(Example: 1 box of pennies, 1 hour of work ----> 20 wheats = 40 cent profit = 40 cents/hour)

20 wheats = 40 cent profit = 40 cents/hour. If you read the post, you see that he's not just looking for wheats, he's looking for copper. I consistently get 28% copper, so for a box that's $7.00 in copper cents, about $7 profit.

1 box of halves, 15 minutes work ----> 1 40% half = $4.50 profit = $18/hour!)

Assuming you find 1 40% half, I agree with your math. However, skunk streaks mean that a consistent $18/hour is laughable. Consistent $7/hour for cents is quite doable.


My two cents...

8)

 

[mick56]

Re: What to do with 82's?

I use a balance scale I made out of a popsicle stick and glued a nail in the center ( head cut off nail). Put a copper penny on one side, an 82 copper penny will balance out a little, a zinc penny won't budge it.

 

[trololol]

Re: What to do with 82's?

WELLLLLL all done! I ended up combine the balance scale trick and the sound test. Only got 25 zinc 82's bout 250 coppers. Is that normal? I used a zippo and some cardboard Still worked, I used 2 2011 and 2 1973's as controls to test it. Should i mix in the copper 82's with all the other pre 82'? Or keep it in a seperate baggie in the jar? Thanks for the help guys!

 

[madwest]

Re: What to do with 82's?

I hate to mention it, but there is another way to distinguish.

The zinc cent is copper coated. If you scratch deep, you will see the zinc. However, that is a death sentence for that coin. Once the protective copper is removed, corrosion sets in very quickly. For that reason, I would not practice this method. It is irresponsible destruction of a limited resource.

The copper cent is an alloy consistent all the way through. A deep scratch will appear copper color. The result is a scratched copper cent - bad for the numismatic value, but moot for bullion value.

I have found that 75% or more '82 cents are of the copper variety. This is based on me sorting 3 bags (6box equiv.) manually. I kept the '82 ones separate. When I got my coin comparator, I fed them through. The ratio was very close to 3:1 copper.