1982 D Lincoln Penny 1 1

[CommunicatorDan]

Hello everyone,

 

So I came across this 1982 D penny. I was reading there are 2 types. One is bronze weighing around 3.1 grams the other copper/zinc weighing around 2.5 grams.

I also read that the 2 is different in both and in the bronze one the top of the numbers line up.

My penny weighs 3.10 grams, Numbers seem to line up, but the 2 is not the more curvy type.

Thoughts please

[J P M]

Yes we have many 1982 D large date coins like yours here. The Small date is the one you will not find here.

[Sandon]

    Your coin is a 1982-D large date, which is common in both brass (95% copper, 5% zinc alloy, official weight of 3.11 grams) (a.k.a. "copper") and the then new copper-plated zinc (official weight of 2.5 grams) composition. (Cents had ceased to be made in bronze alloy back in 1962, when tin was completely eliminated, although sometimes even grading services incorrectly refer to these as "bronze".) The 3.10 grams weight indicates that your coin is brass, as is most of the large date mintage.

   Both mints made 1982 cents in both compositions, and both mints also began striking cents from new, "small date" dies later in the year. The mint reported that it did not coin any 1982-D small date cents in the old, brass composition, but one was discovered in November 2016 and certified by NGC.  See NGC Certifies Unique Cent | NGC (ngccoin.com). I understand that only one additional1982-D small date brass cent has been authenticated since, although a surprising number of people wrongly claim to have found one. The other seven combinations of the compositions with either large or small dates are common and have no collector value other than in better uncirculated grades.

   This "infographic", courtesy of @EagleRJO, shows and explains the differences between "large" and "small" date cents of 1982:

 

Edited March 28 by Sandon
corrected typo

[Coinbuf]

You have the common large date of which millions were minted.   Search for a small date if you like, so far there have only been two found after 40 years, you have better odds of winning the lottery than finding a SD.

[powermad5000]

Your coin is a large date 1982 D Lincoln cent and the weight is appropriate for a bronze cent of issue with a mint weight of 3.11g +/- .13g of tolerance.

The mint made 6,012,979,368 of these cents.