Background

In the 1970’s the Lincoln Cent was made of 95% copper and 5% zinc. The cost of copper was steadily rising, causing the cost of manufacturing Cents to increase significantly. It was imminent that it would begin to cost more to make than 1¢ to make each cent

In 1982 a change was made to 97.5% zinc / 2.5% copper. The copper is an outer plating for the mostly zinc coin. During the year the date was changed because zinc does not behave the same way as copper under the pressure of the striking of the coin. They changed to a smaller '1982' to move the date further away from the rim

Due to the two major changes there are 7 varieties of the 1982 cent. These varieties include 4 from the Philadelphia mint and 3 from the Denver mint.

7 Varieties of the 1982 Cent

1982 started with copper cents and ended with zinc cents. The table below itemizes the 7 varieties. The small date copper coin was only manufactured in Philadelphia.

As you might have already discovered there are times when coins that were supposedly not manufactured do appear, and that happened in 2011 when a 1982-D small date copper coin was found in circulation. This is the only one found so far and it fetched a neat $18,800

Copper and Zinc Cents Look Alike

The new zinc cents look like the copper cents because the zinc is coated with copper. The primary difference is that the copper cents weigh 3.1 grams while the zinc cents weigh 2.5 grams. So if the zinc coin still has its copper coating the best way to tell them apart is to weigh them.

US Mint Didn't Package the 7 Types 

Some enterprising coin companies/dealers put together 7-coin sets. Here are a couple of examples. These are getting scarce but can still be found in stores, online, and at auctions today.

Should I Save Pre-1982 Cents?

As discussed, Lincoln Cents minted pre-1982 are 95% copper. Copper has continued to increase in value. As of today, 1/6/2020, copper is priced at $2.75 per pound. The pre-1982 cents are worth about 2 cents in copper content.

It is illegal to melt cents or nickels for their metal content, but scarce supply or high demand for copper could force the law to be changed. Will that happen? Only time will tell.