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Bronze Pennies

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14 comments

  • mrmike08075
    Just saw an article on an aluminum Penny from the 70's - test run of the alloy - all supposed to be destroyed but apparently several exist and have been observed in private hands

    The steel pennies are pretty common - never heard of the bronze

    Current pennies are not copper - when scrap prices were super high OT was costing more then one cent to produce a penny

    There were folk arrested for scrapping and melting pennies - a federal crime

    Mike
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  • Brookwood
    I've got a big old glass water cooler dispenser bottle down in my basement closet full to the rim with old pennies! I'll just have to make a note and stick it somewhere, to remind me to check each and every penny to see if it is bronze. [:0]

    I wonder what my old bronze coin with an image of Julius Caesar on it would go for?[:I]
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  • XXCross
    Why were people supposedly arrested for melting pennys ? My understanding has always been that they are not a coin of the realm, but rather a tax token. (not subject to the same laws)
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  • Grasshopper
    dang it, I spent that yesterday because I was a penny short at Wendy's when I ordered there possum shank special.. I thought there was something odd about it.
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  • babun
    It's beleived that there are about 20 them. 12 from one mint, 7 from another mint, and 1 from the last mint. These amounts are guesses.
    Start looking guys...think what 1.7 million could buy in blue steel.
    [;)][;)]

    https://www.foxnews.com/science/holy-grail-found-rare-penny-might-be-worth-1-7m-after-it-was-found-in-boys-lunch-money
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  • He Dog
    quote:Originally posted by us55840
    quote:Originally posted by Brookwood


    I wonder what my old bronze coin with an image of Julius Caesar on it would go for?[:I]



    Wow ! How old are you?

    [:D][:D][;)]


    Less than you might think. Roman coins turn out to be fairly common.
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  • gruntled
    Before you get too excited if you find one you should know there are thousands of fakes & they were done decades ago. You can also look for 1944 steels cents as they are just as valuable. They have also been faked. You can check for fakes with a magnet or by weight. Real 1943 copper cents should not have much magnetic attraction & should be heavier. The opposite is true for the real 1944 steel cents.
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  • allen griggs
    I read that the valuable coin is made of copper.

    Wish I had it.
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  • Smitty500mag
    I spent a lot of time going through the cash register drawers at the end of the day at my grandpa's boat dock and restaurant and also at my dad's service station including the soft drink machines looking for old coins when I was a kid back in the 50s and 60s. I found lots of old coins but never anything that was extreamly rare. But it was fun looking anyway. Sorta like treasure hunting.

    I was always on the lookout for a 1913 Liberty Head V Nickel or a 1909 S VDB Wheat Penny to name a couple of coins I remember. I found plenty of old coins but finding one in near mint condition that was in circulation took a lot of luck.
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  • yoshmyster
    I wonder with the modern copper rush where folks are hoarding pennies and who bought the copper sorter don't know what they stowed away for the melt. Hell I wonder how many pennies already went and done got melted?
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  • Brookwood
    quote:Originally posted by us55840
    quote:Originally posted by Brookwood


    I wonder what my old bronze coin with an image of Julius Caesar on it would go for?[:I]



    Wow ! How old are you?

    [:D][:D][;)]


    Well, I am old enough to remember when the cash register till at my dads retail greenhouse had real silver dollars, half dollars, quarters, and dimes in all of the slots! [:0]

    My younger brother was the coin collector in the family. His best find was (if my memory is correct) an 1856 Flying Eagle Penny.
    I guess you could say that I am old enough to remember SPENDING real silver coins from dollars to dimes to buy stuff at their face value![:0]
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  • Cornflk1
    quote:Originally posted by gruntled
    Before you get too excited if you find one you should know there are thousands of fakes & they were done decades ago. You can also look for 1944 steels cents as they are just as valuable. They have also been faked. You can check for fakes with a magnet or by weight. Real 1943 copper cents should not have much magnetic attraction & should be heavier. The opposite is true for the real 1944 steel cents.


    YEP, called this one right.
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  • llama girl
    Whether it is true or not, I heard somewhere that the gov't is calling in copper cents, Since then I have been sorting my change. In 2 years I have a 3 pound plastic container that is within 2 inches from the top. It weighs almost 20 pounds. Memorial cents from 1959-1981 are all copper. In 1982 the zinc cents were started. To be sure I take a file to the back edge just enough to see the inner metal. I keep the coppers and put the zinc ones in a jug and return to the bank. Just for fun see how many are in your pockets.
    I buy 5 rolls of nickels and 2 rolls of cents at a time. I live in a rural county and have found quite a few silver war nickles and a minor key dates in the early years of Jefferson nickles. I also found a V nickle that books at $21. I have found about a roll a year of wheat cents, as well as silver dimes quarters an even halves. In currency a $50 gold clause note. There is free money out there just gotta keep looking!
    There is also a Suzy B dollar called a near date, scarce but out there a $65 in uncirculated condition, only about $20. I have about a roll.
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  • allen griggs
    I was a coin collector back in the fifties and sixties. The Holy Grail was a 1909 S VDB. Now that bad boy was worth a million bucks.

    But this copper WW2 penny has sold, big disappointment it went for a mere $204 Grand.



    Rare World War II-era penny flops at auction
    By Max Jaeger January 10, 2019 | 10:45pm | Updated
    Modal Trigger
    The rare 1943 penny, accidentally minted on copper, not steel, that year

    Rare penny found in school cafeteria expected to fetch $1.7M at auction.

    A rare penny that was expected to fetch $1.7 million at auction Thursday went for a mere $204,000.

    The 1943 penny was one of 20 accidentally pressed in copper that year ? when the coins were made of zinc-coated steel because copper was needed for WWII shell casings ? making it massively valuable, according to Heritage Auctions, which sold the cent.

    ?This is the most famous error coin in American numismatics, and that?s what makes this so exciting,? the auction house?s Sarah Miller of Heritage Auctions told Fox News, estimating it could go for $1.7 million on the block.

    But it sold for $170,000, plus a 20 percent buyer?s premium that brought the total to $204,000 ? more than 20 million times its face value.

    ?They said a million, seven? Wow?? the auctioneer mused after it went for a relative song.

    Sixteen-year-old Don Lutes Jr. found the lucky penny in his school cafeteria in March 1947, and held on to it for more than seven decades before dying in September without confirmation of its actual value.
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