Josh discovers some cool finds in old pill bottles found in an old home. This crazy coin search turned up LOTS of old pennies worth money… and SO much more!
Watch as Josh pulls out ALL of the “best” pennies — then weighs them on a scale & examines them with a magnifier to determine their value.
⚡TIMESTAMPS FROM THE VIDEO⚡
00:00 INTRO: Searching for valuable pennies
00:44 Helpful coin supplies
01:18 Guidebook of United States Coins (for coin values)
01:34 Guidebook of Lincoln Cents (for penny values)
01:51 Coin loupe (for examining coins closeup)
02:10 Coin scale (for weighing pennies: copper vs zinc)
03:33 Dumping out the coins
04:23 Copper pennies are easy to spot
04:32 Sorting the pennies into piles
04:43 Purple powder on some coins
05:00 Found a Rutherford B. Hayes dollar coin
05:13 Found a 1965 clad quarter (not silver)
05:47 Found a 1986-P quarter (scarcer than most)
08:00 Copper penny values
08:35 Coin jar searching is just like fishing!
08:46 Found a 1960-D Large Date penny
09:52 Found a possible 1992 Doubled Die penny
11:15 Found a 1959 penny (1st yr of Lincoln Memorials)
11:25 Found a 1982 potential copper penny
11:38 Zinc penny values
13:20 Look for Wide AM errors on late 90s & 2000 pennies
13:30 Look for Close AM errors on 1992 pennies
14:59 Found a 1960 Large Date penny
15:21 1990 No-S penny info (worth thousands of dollars)
16:53 This is NOT a disappointing coin search so far!
18:56 Found several unc 90s & 80s pennies (hard to find)
20:23 Found a possible 1995 Doubled Die penny
24:28 The pennies found inside Pill Bottle #1
25:34 Found a 1942 wheat penny
26:17 Found a possible 1984 Doubled Die penny
29:53 The quarters found inside Pill Bottle #2
30:55 Found a 1983 quarter (some are valuable)
31:37 Found a 1965 quarter (silver ones are valuable)
32:28 My summary of the ZINC pennies found
34:04 Zinc vs copper penny weights (using a coin scale)
34:17 Pre-1983 copper penny weights explained
37:18 SUMMARY: Total value of coins found in the 3 jars
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TRANSCRIPT:
Hey everybody! This is Josh with The Fun Times Guide. And today we’re going to go through a container of mostly pennies.
This is an unusual one for me. Usually I’m going through rolls or even like boxes of coins. But I have a sister-in-law who is cleaning out a house and she came across a bunch of coins. And some actually in at least one pill bottle. We’re going to find out what’s in this container.
I’m seeing some quarters. I’m seeing some copper. And who knows… maybe some errors, varieties, silver coins. We’re going to find out!
So, stay tuned and let’s dive into this container and at least one pill bottle of coins…
Hey everybody. So, we have here a little selection of important items — including our aforementioned container of coins. Which, as you see, contains at least one pill bottle. (I think there’s like a pill bottle cap in here, or maybe… maybe it IS a pill bottle… I can’t exactly tell… I think it IS without a label.
I do see some quarters in here. But we’re going to find out what’s in this in a minute.
First of all, I’ve got some other important sidekicks here. I’ve got my Guide Book of United States Coins from a recent year, which will help provide us some with some values (retail values, really) of the coins in here. Mostly Lincoln cents I think are in this container. But whatever we come across should be in this book somewhere.
Because this is mostly pennies or 1-cent coins, I also have my copy of a Guide Book of Lincoln Cents which I have used thoroughly over the years. As you can tell, I’m a big Lincoln penny guy. So, I’ve made some good use of this book!
I also have here a coin loupe for examining varieties and errors on these coins. This is a 10x loupe — so, it’s fantastic for picking out hub doubling or mint doubling on the coins — as well as other imperfections and anomalies. And a scale that measures in grams — actually down to a tenth of a gram. This would be good for picking apart 1982 pennies — especially that would be both copper or zinc, either one.
I can kind of tell by hand and by looking at coins what they’re made from because I’ve handled so many over the last 30+ years. But this is good for ascertaining exact information, as well as showing you (on screen) whether or not we have copper or zinc 1982 pennies or other coins that need to be investigated further to see what they’re made from.
Now, before I dive into this container of pennies, I’d love to see comments on what YOU think is in here!
I have no idea. I will say this for full disclosure… I did notice that this pill bottle on top of the stack of coins inside had personal information on the label. So, all I did was take the container out (the little pill bottle out) and I wrapped an index card around it so you can’t see what the information was on the label. I did not look at any of the coins inside though — either inside the pill bottle or the container. So, it’s as new to me as it is to you!
So, with that all being said, let’s go ahead and close up our books here and get this show rolling.
All right. So, this is a like a clasp here. And I’m going to pull this bottle out, get it out of the way. And let’s go ahead and dump out these coins to see what is in here. Hopefully none roll off the table.
Oh yeah… that IS a pill bottle. Okay, you can see that is completely empty. I feel like a magician here… “You can see there’s nothing inside the container.”
All right, so let’s go ahead and lay that down. And we’ve got here one pill bottle. Again, that’s the one I wrapped up earlier to conceal information. This is another pill bottle that’s not labeled. It has… Well, it has some quarters and dimes in there. So, we have some “quote unquote” silver coins in this stack. And then a lot of loose coins here.
And my goodness me, I see lots of copper! I see some quarters… nickels… Let’s let’s get started!
So, first things first, let’s kind of peel through here. We’ve got… Well, we’ve got copper so far. Got some more copper. It’s a good start. That’s a good start!
You know… What is this? That’s weird. Some kind of purple powder. I don’t know what that is. I’m hoping and praying it’s not toxic, but it probably isn’t. Let’s see… It’s on this coin right here. See that? Whatever that is, it’s probably like a makeup of some kind or something.
Oh, we have a… What is this? This is a Rutherford B. Hayes dollar. Okay.
Well, so far we’ve got some coins worth a lot more than a penny here!
A 1965 quarter, which I can tell looking at this… This is a… Yeah, I see copper on the side. This is a clad 1965 quarter.
’81… ’95… Nothing really yet of any value. But what state or region is this? That’s American Samoa.
’97… ’95… Yeah, these are mostly clad. They’re all clad so far, actually.
What is that? That’s a ’84… ’85. We’ll get these out of the way first.
’86… ’86…. Okay. I will tell you this… 1986 Philadelphia quarters are a little scarcer. In the context of all clad quarters, the ’86 Philadelphia’s are a little bit scarcer, especially in uncirculated grades. You get the occasional dealer who will pay like a very small premium — maybe a few cents over face for an ’86-P in very lightly worn condition. That’s more the exception than the rule, but I want you to know about that.
We have here a 1990, a ’96, a ’94. Okay, maybe you can drop some comments below on where you think this is going so far with our search here. Let me know if there’s anything YOU see so far in the stack that I’m missing (’95) that YOU would hang on to.
This is a 2019-P nickel… 2011… What is that? Philadelphia.
I mean, this is kind of what you expect. 2003-P dime. This is a 1996 Philadelphia nickel.
Let’s see, we’ll spread this out a little further here.
What is on my hands? Oh my goodness me!
Do you see any more copper? Oh, you know… any more… Yeah, copper…. I see lots of copper! I meant copper nickel.
Oh, here you go. Speaking of copper nickel… a 1989 Denver.
Okay, I think that that is all when it comes to the coins worth more than 1 cent.
Yeah, lots of copper — which is good! That’s a good place to be.
You know what? I mean, I’m going to get this stuff on my hands again anyway. I think it’s just chalk. I don’t know. I think… Yeah, I think it’s chalk.
So, let’s go ahead. I see some… one is ’82. Here’s a ’73… a ’78. What else do we have here? 1980… ’75.
I’m looking for any copper — obviously. As those who do penny searches know, copper pennies are worth a very small premium over face — because of their copper value.
1967… Do you think we’re going to find any wheat cents today here? I’m kind of curious about that. Let me know in the comments below if we’re going to find any wheat cents today.
’63 Denver… Cuz I’ll tell you what… I don’t know yet!
’75… ’93 Denver.
And that’s kind of part of the fun of this kind of a thing. You know… you never know what you’re going to find.
’78… My hope, of course, is to always find like a silver coin or a double die.
1971… But the thrill of the search!
1960 Denver large date… The thrill of the search for me is always what drives me to do things like these.
1979 Denver… It’s kind of like fishing.
1975… You know you drop the line in the water and you might catch something good.
’81… Or, if you’re like me and you go fishing, you might catch nothing most times.
’63 Denver. But you know what? I still have fun fishing cuz it’s a relaxing hobby. Usually, I do it with my family. We go on a little half day cruise into the Gulf and… ’81… and it’s just time together out in the water.
’75 Denver… That’s why I like to fish.
1973… My family… 1976 Denver… My family has taken to watching magnet fishing on YouTube.
1978… There’s one guy we love to watch… “The Fisher”… his name is Tyler. He likes to…
1972… Okay! We’re going to see if this is a doubled die. So, I’m going to hold it aside.
So, as I was saying… we like to watch a guy on YouTube… ’72… who goes by the handle of “The Fisher.” He’s a magnet fisher. And… ’73… He drops a magnet into the water in waterways near his home.
’64 Denver… And he pulls up all kinds of the weirdest things. You know, old old hub caps and…1974… old steel cans, bumpers, bikes, you name it. And uh… we like to watch him magnet fish because you never know WHAT he’s going to pull up out of the water!
And so I like to watch people like him, you know, enjoy hobbies and just… I don’t know… you know… just enjoy the thrill of the search. And that’s exactly what this is for me. It’s like fishing.
’61 Denver. You never know what cool find you can make. That’s a nice ’65 …when you are going through, in this case, a pile of unknown coins. At least unknown to me anyway!
And as you can see, we’re kind of going over a lot of the zinc…
Oh! Oh, this is a ’50 something… ’59. Okay, so the first year of the Lincoln Memorial series!
’82… We’re going to weigh that and see. I think this is copper — based on the appearance of the coin and the way it feels.
This is a 1967… 1976.
Now, that’s NOT to disregard the importance or value of zinc pennies. There are some that are worth looking for. Namely, you’ve got…
Okay, here’s a big chunk… I’m sorry. Here’s a big chunk of chalk right here. I’m going to put this in the trash. Not the coin, but the chalk. There we go.
And I’m going to.. I mean there IS still chalk in here. I kind of want to… I kind of want to wash my hands.
Hang on a minute here. Let me go to the kitchen right here.
There you go. And it’s still on me. Not as bad as it was though.
And let’s go ahead and trade hands for a second here… And then continue the saga of looking through this… 1978… pile of coins.
What do you think that was on my hand? I’d love to know in the comments below what you think that fuchsia colored chalky stuff is.
Oh, here’s another… See this? I’m not even sure what that is.
Yeah, PLEASE let me know what you think that is. Is that like an old raisin? Goodness only knows what that is!
It’s 2003 penny.
Oh my gosh! Yep, you never know what you’re gonna find when you’re going through old coins!
1973 Denver.. including… compounds.
I can tell these are all zinc. Yep, late 90s. I would look for Wide AM varieties on the late 90s and 2000 pennies. As well as the Close AM on the ’92 Philadelphia (which is NO mint mark) and ’92 Denver.
’75… 1966…
I’ve got to say this is a fairly heavy presence of copper!
’64… I’m not sure. Well, I can tell you this… My sister-in-law, she did compile this container in the last couple of weeks. But this was in cleaning out a house that had been occupied by the same person for decades. And these coins, I think, were just kind of throughout the house. And they were brought together in this container. So, this could be representative of maybe the kinds of coin finds you might make 20 years ago.
I mean, I’m just guessing there. I don’t really know exactly.
1982… That’s a heavily corroded ’82. I think it’s copper based on the way it… that coin oxidized.
1975… But we’re going to continue.
This is an ’82, which I think… that’s copper. Again, we will make that determination by the scale.
1980 Denver… in a short bit.
’75… There’s an ’82…
’82… Okay. We are slowly… 1960… looks like a… I think it’s a large date.
1969 Denver… We are continuing this journey through old… mostly pennies.
1990… All right, I want to take a moment here and show you something that a lot of people ask me about. I get a LOT of questions about their 1990 pennies Which people know that the “1990 No S penny” is worth thousands of dollars. Which is very true. But that’s ONLY if you’re talking about a “proof” 1990 penny with no “S” mintmark.
The Philadelphia Mint did not place “P” mint marks on its 1990 penny. So therefore, there are billions of 1990 pennies with no mint mark. And the ones you find in circulation that have no characteristics of the “proof stripe” — which is like a sharper… a sharper rim… sharper details… a reflective surface or fields… or cameo devices or designs / letterings… those are normal 1990 pennies worth face value if worn.
And that’s why THIS penny here, which is 1990 and has no mint mark, is worth only a penny.
And please pardon my hands. They don’t look very photogenic anymore. Between the penny grit under my fingernails now and the fuchsia chalk, whatever that stuff is — I have no idea what that is.
An ’82 penny. I feel like this is copper. I’m going to weigh it to find out what that is.
1980-D… We are slowly weeding out the copper.
’75 Denver… But this is NOT disappointing!
’81 Denver. I mean, there’s no sign of like any major varieties here or… What is that? 1986. Okay.
I don’t see any signs of anything SUPER significant yet, but…
1974…. San Francisco. Pretty cool!
But still, I mean, there’s a lot of copper in here! And some of the copper looks like it’s in pretty good shape for its age and for having been, I think, in circulation.
2008… ’87… So… What is that? Is that pasta on there? Goodness knows what that is.
Okay, so working our way through here… And these are all zincs. I can tell these are “spendworthy” as I call them. Spend worthy coins. If they’re worth face value or a nominal amount moreso, I called them “spendworthy coins.” That’s kind of my little catchphrase I guess you’d say… or word I’ve coined.
1981… Let’s see here… We are.. Bronze here. Yep, 1976 Denver.
1971… What mintmark is that? Looks like San Francisco. Pretty cool! “S” mint mark. Those are kind of tough to find.
1972… So, we’ll hold it aside as a possible double die candidate.
But no wheat cents yet!
1968 Denver… What do you make of that? Let me know in the comments below what your thoughts are on the fact that we’ve not come across any wheat cents yet.
1973… Maybe they’re in this pill bottle. I have no idea. We’re going to… We’re going to see. I’m going to hope! I want to find a wheat cent for everybody here.
That’s a weird looking 1994 penny. It’s not weird in that it’s like an error. It’s clearly a regularly minted coin. It’s just the way it toned. That is not an error of any kind.
What’s kind of cool, too… and is getting tough to find… there’s a lot of uncirculated 1990s and even 80s… Like this ’84 here, which could be a doubled ear. I’ll hold it aside and double check, but I don’t think it is based on what I’m seeing.
It’s getting tougher to find very nice… ’72… another doubled die candidate! Tough to find really nice 80s and 90s uncirculated Lincoln cents just in rolls anymore. And one reason why is zinc is very reactive. Zinc, the copper plated zinc pennies…
This is a nice ’68 by the way…
THEY when they hit the atmosphere, I’ll tell you what… they tend to oxidize and tone and look pretty rough after only a few years!
’79 Denver… Looks like we’re getting near…
’84… We’ll hold that aside as a possible doubled die candidate
’86… Yeah, I think we’re getting near not quite near the end yet of the copper one. What is that? I’m going have to weigh that and see what that even is. I know it’s a penny. I just can’t tell… I think it’s zinc. I can tell by the way it’s oxidizing.
Okay, let me know in the comments if you think before I weigh it. (My voice is going away!) If you think it’s a zinc penny OR a copper penny. I have my thoughts on that, but I want to know what yours are.
All right…
’95… See, a ’95 doubled die is a very cool variety that is worth looking for.
’81 Denver — that’s a really corroded ’81 Denver.
And I… ’75… will be looking to see if that is a doubled die.
This is an ’82, which I think… I think that’s copper. Let’s see.
’86… ’80 Denver… We’re going to hold that aside. Okay. All right. This looks like a copper… ’71 Denver. And indeed, it is copper.
’86… What I’m going to do is I’m going to hold aside the ’95 pennies, the ’92 pennies, the late 90s, and we’re going to see if there are any Close AM or Wide AM varieties in there.
’81… I’ll let you know what I find.
’82… I think that might be zinc.
’88…’85… 1990… You know my talk about the 1990 pennies by now. That’s why we’re not holding them aside because they’re worth basically 1 cent — even without the mint mark in this case.
’84… There are signs of die deterioration around the rim. That ridge is not really an error per se. It’s more a sign of like a worn die. So…
’92… We’ll see if that’s a Close AM.
’95… We’ll hold aside 99s for any Wide AM error sightings.
’95… Okay, we’re almost done with this part of the search.
’82… We’ll look at that and see what that is.
’83… We’ll see if that’s a doubled die reverse.
’79… ’94… What is this one? 2006. That’s a weird looking one.
’96… ’83… ’79… That’s a copper keeper!
All right, we are just about done with this part of the search. There’s more of that chalk.
There’s an ’81 copper keeper. These are zinc, it looks like. Yep, these are 2000s… late 90s.
I don’t think I missed any copper. Did you see any copper that I missed? Let me know in the comments below, please… so I can go back and make sure I’m not overlooking things here.
Like this 1975. That’s why you double check! That’s why I double check — I’ll say that. You probably can catch on the first scan, but my eyes sometimes deceive me.
1967… but not a wheat cent.
I have to say I’m a little bit surprised at the dearth of wheat cents in this search so far! Usually, these types of searches will pull up at least 1 or 2 wheat cents. Even a very common date.
This is a 74… Even very common dates. But… I’ll tell you what… I don’t see any signs of wheat at all yet.
Okay, I think… I think I have cleaned out the copper. Think I’ve cleaned out the copper. Do you think I cleaned out the copper? I don’t know. Let me know.
’94… Okay, I’m like 98% sure…
’88… 98% sure (I was just saying ’88 cuz that’s the year of that penny over there)… It’s a zinc penny. I’m 98% sure I have cleaned out the copper from this part of the search. So that said, let’s go ahead.. I’ll hold that aside… And we’re going to move to…
That’s an ’81… Another table and look at what is inside this pill bottle of coins.
Alrighty… We have here our pill bottle of coins. I will say for disclosure sake, I have LOOSENED this top — so I can be able to open it with one hand on camera. It’s not opened. So, let’s go ahead and actually open it and see what is inside.
You’ll note I… since having learned the lesson from the fuchsia chalk incident earlier… I have no idea what’s in this bottle as far as like if… I know it’s COINS. But if there’s any chalk in there or other weird compounds. So, I have a little paper towel placemat here — in case there is anything else inside here besides coins.
So, that being said… let’s go ahead and dump out this pill bottle. It appears to be empty. And it IS empty. And let’s see what is in here.
So far… Well, let’s see here… So far… Ooh we have our first wheat cent of the day! This is a… 1942 Lincoln wheat cent! We have a wheat cent, folks. Finally! We will hold this aside.
As we continue our search for other goodies in here… I do see some copper!
1972… We’re going to hold that aside, and see if that is a doubled die.
1976… 1992… We’ll look for a Close AM on that one. So, we have some things worth looking for here.
Let’s see… 1978… It’s a copper keeper!
1971… ’84…. We’ll look for any signs of doubling on that with the ear — probably not. Chances are not that great, but you never know!
It’s an ’81… ’94…. We got some 2000s in here and late 80s.
1975… We will keep it. It’s a copper keeper. That’s copper for sure. Yep. ’78 Denver.
1976… ’82… We’ll see if it’s copper or zinc. My guess is that is copper based on the way it feels in the hand and the weight and the coloration and all that kind of stuff.
’94 Denver… ’99… ’86… ’93… I mean we’ll look for the Wide AM in the late 90s.
1970… that’s a copper keeper!
’98… ’92… We’ll see if that’s a Close AM. That’s a very valuable coin if it is.
1991… Going through here… ’95 Denver… that’s not a double die candidate because the double dies… 1978… from ’95 are from Philadelphia which has NO mint mark.
’82… We’ll see what that is. Is that copper or zinc? We shall find out soon.
1976… ’94… 19… What year is that? So weird. Can you tell me what year you think that is in the comments below? I know it’s zinc. I can just tell it’s zinc. I’ll weigh it — so you can see that it is in fact a zinc coin, but I can tell you off the bat that’s a zinc. That’s a zinc penny.
’99… ’82… We’ll see if that’s copper or zinc. I think that might be zinc, but let’s see.
1964 Denver… It’s a copper keeper! We’ll see if that’s a doubled die.
’89… 2000… kind of the run-of-the-mill… 1974… what you’d expect. But there is a fairly decent copper presence in this whole container that we opened up a little bit ago. And that’s pretty cool. Really is cool!
’98… ’94… I’m trying to figure out what year this is all… like what year this all capped off… I don’t remember… That’s an ’81… Finding much after like 2000… what? 2002? 2004?
’73… I have to go back and see what the latest coin is from here. Not that it guarantees the year (the final year) that these coins were amassed. But it kind of gives you at least an idea anyway.
Okay, some 92s there that might be worth some money. So, let’s see what those are.
’91… This is a ’99… We’ll look for the Wide AM. Oh, you know what? These are… Oh, yeah. That’s right. Never mind. These were… These are possible double die or Wide AM candidates. So, yes. Okay.
So, copper. This is… Did I go through these yet, everybody? Nope! Did not go through that. That’s a ’91. That’s an ’88. That’s ’91.
These were the possible Wide or Close AM candidates… Doubled die… Close AM… So, we’ll go through these.
And of course, this is our weight set. We have one more container to go through. Let’s go ahead and get it. This was the unmarked pill bottle. I think it’s mostly quarters. Let’s see. Wow… I could open it with one hand. Look at me.
Dump it out and see what’s inside. What is that? It’s a piece of paper. It’s a note of some kind. Let me read it off air and see what it says. Oh… “Older coins.” So, interestingly enough, this says “older coins.” This appears to be all clad quarters? Let me double check and see here…
’91… So, this is not for me. This was the person who put this together OR the home occupant who wrote this. I don’t know who wrote this. I can tell you it wasn’t me. That’s all I can tell you.
1990… 1990… ’84 ’92 Philadelphia. Yeah, that’s what I’d expect… ’83
’82 and ’83 quarters… if they’re in really lightly worn condition or uncirculated, they do have small premiums.
That’s pretty… that’s kind of grubby… I mean it has some obvious wear on it and such. I don’t think this will get any kind of premium if you took it to a coin dealer. The obverse & reverse show moderate wear on the high point. So yeah, I don’t think this is… This is… To me, it’s a spendworthy quarter. I don’t think I’d be able to garner any kind of premium at all for my sister-in-law on that coin.
1980 Denver… ’81 Philadelphia… ’89… ’97… ’65… Alright, I can tell looking at the edge, this is a copper-nickel clad ’65 quarter. So this is NOT the 1965 silver error that a lot of people are looking for — and that’s worth thousands of dollars.
’91 Denver… 2018 Philadelphia dime… 2006 Philadelphia… ’96 Philadelphia… and ’88 Denver.
Okay, next things next…
I’m going to go ahead. I’m going to go look through the candidates here. We’ll do some on-air, and we’ll see if there are any varieties or errors among the 92s and 95s, the late 90s. We’ll weigh the ’82 pennies and we’ll see what’s going on here.
So, stay tuned…
Alrighty, so first things first… I went through the zinc pennies that had dates that could be candidates for doubled dies, Close AMs, Wide AMs… NADA! There is nothing worth keeping as far as that goes.
So… believe me, I would let you know if I had found anything worth keeping there!
A couple of housekeeping notes here. First of all, I had asked earlier about what year this compilation of coins might have been put together. Or rather, I guess, what the last year of coins saved was.
I THOUGHT it was 2007. I came across this whole run of 2000 beautiful ’07 pennies, and then came across this 2008. This is the latest year coin I could find in this whole compilation. Which leads me to wonder two things: (1) Was it that that was the last year that these coins were amassed? Or… (2) Those who know that in 2009 there was a Lincoln Bicentennial series that commemorated the Bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth –with 4 special reverse designs that profile Lincoln’s life from birth to his presidency.
So did the person who was going through these coins just disregard or stop saving the pennies after 2008? I don’t know. But there’s your question… Or there’s your answer to your question and MY answer to my question about what was the last year or latest year in here. It’s 2008.
Next question was: What is this?
I tried to see if it was zinc or copper. We’re going to find out in a minute if it is zinc or copper.
And then of course the other question is: What do we have for 82s? Are they copper or zinc? I think the bulk of these, if not all, are copper. We’re going to find out though with our trusty coin scale.
I’m going to turn it on. And it is now on, ready to go.
Copper pennies should weigh 3.0 to 3.2 grams. Okay, so spec is 3.11 grams — but there are tolerances. So, you’re not going to get exactly 3.11 grams every time you get a copper penny. It’ll be 3.0 grams to 3.2 grams.
You might get a lightweight 2.9 grams if it has a lot of wear on it, but that point being made about 3 grams more or less is what you’ll get for a copper penny.
A zinc penny, which would be like these over here for example, weigh about 2.5 grams. And to show you that point, I want to… since we have known zinc and I know some copper over here… I want to show you.
Let’s see here. We’ve got… this is a copper ’82 penny. I can guarantee you this is copper. Let’s put it on the scale and see what it says. And yep, 3.1 grams. So, we know that that’s copper.
Versus a known zinc penny at 2.5 grams. See? So, that’s how we’ll tell if we have copper or zinc.
So, this one’s been verified as copper. Let’s weigh this ’82. This is 3.1 grams — so it’s copper. We have a 3.1 grammer — this is another copper keeper.
3.2 grams… See that? That’s the tolerance thing I’m talking about. You’re gonna get a little bit over weight sometimes. That’s normal. That’s not an error or something weird. That’s a normal copper penny. That is just on the higher end of tolerance range.
3.1 grams… That’s of course more expected.
3.2… You know, just a little over weight, but still within tolerances.
3.1… I saw 3.4 for a second, but it just was a misregister.
3.1… We’re getting the majority of these are mostly copper.
3.2.. Yep, that’s copper. That’s normal.
3.2… 3.1… 3.1… Wow, these are basically all copper! I thought so.
Oh, this is a wheat cent. This is the one I came across earlier in that pill bottle. And then what do you think?
Before I put it on the scale, I want to know what you think this 1982 penny is. Is it copper?Or is it zinc? Let me know in the comments below.
I think this is… I think this is zinc for some reason. Just the way it’s oxidizing. Let’s see. Nope! It’s copper! 3.1. I’m surprised. It felt kind of lightweight to me and the way it was oxidizing looked kind of like a zinc penny — but it’s copper.
So, these are all copper ’82 pennies.
Let’s go ahead and let’s sum up all of our finds today and determine just how good of a coin search this was.
So, how much money was in this container and these 2 pill bottles?
Well, it came down to $7.25 in quarters, 15 cents in nickels, 50 cents in dimes, the $1 golden dollar, $3.54 in zinc pennies, 108 copper pennies. Okay?
And then our 1942 wheat cent.
So, in other words, not counting this wheat cent or the copper penny, it’s worth about 3 cents apiece for the metal value.
We have here $12.44 in spendworthy coins.
We’ll say $3, more or less (maybe a tad more) in copper value here for the 108 Lincoln copper (or bronze) pennies.
And a 1942 Lincoln wheat cent worth about 5 to 10 cents in this condition here.
So really, all in all, not a bad search. I mean there’s a lot of spending money here. It’s enough money to buy a meal somewhere. We’ve got some great copper coins which you can’t melt, but you can add to a stash of speculative copper coins — you know, to save for the future if copper prices go up and you might get a dealer to buy this for more than face. You know, for their own speculation. And it’s really cool World War II era 1942 Lincoln wheat cent.
So yeah, not a bad find in the ’42 wheat cent and really a pretty cool coin search — if you ask me!
Well, that was a very interesting little search session there. Did not expect to find a few things — including some chalk. But we did come across that wicked awesome 1942 Lincoln wheat cent worth 5 to 10 cents. 108 copper pennies worth around $3 more or less in metal value (copper value). Which again, you can’t melt those coins legally in the United States, but people do hold them aside for their intrinsic metal value — which is what I would do. And I did of course on-screen here.
$12.44 in spending money for my sister-in-law to go ahead and enjoy.
And, as advertised earlier, a very chalky container!
So, there you have it.
Were there any coins that maybe I might have glossed over, not regarding as valuable, that maybe YOU would have kept for some reason? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to know what you’re looking for when you go through coins.
In the meantime, this is Josh with The Fun Times Guide signing off… and about to wash his hands! So, catch you later.
