Then, I go through them all, one by one — looking for errors and varieties that are worth more. What Makes Pre-1983 Pennies Worth Holding Onto? The thing that makes Lincoln pennies dated before 1983 worth more than face value is their copper content. (Due to the price of copper, they...
. The pre-1982 pennies are 95% copper. Because of their copper content, these coins are worth about twice their face value. The modern pennies after the year 1982 are 97.5% zinc and only 2.5% copper. Copper pennies are getting harder to find as people are searching their change and ...
How to Clean Old Pennies Ascertain value of pennies before cleaning.I know I’ve mentioned this already, but I really can’t stress the point enough. Some pennies are ridiculously valuable. You don’t want to mess them up. My favorite way of doing this is to purchase a current copy (va...
After 1982, copper became too expensive to justify using on a coin only worth 1 cent. Therefore, zinc (a much cheaper metal) started being used. Modern pennies are now 97.6% zinc and coated in a thin layer of copper.[16] 2 Rub the penny with the eraser until it shines. This method...