How much copper is in a penny?
The amount of copper in a penny is (95% of 3.11 grams) \approx 2.95 grams. The amount of copper in a pound of copper is 454 grams.
The modern penny has the least amount of copper with a small 2.5% copper plating and a 97.5% zinc base.
A penny is not what you think. Indeed, from 1793 to 1837, a cent was pure copper. But newer pennies are made mostly of zinc.
But in the weird world of penny hoarding, getting to the copper is a very big problem. It's illegal to melt pennies an there is an obscure federal law that makes it illegal to transport more than $5 in pennies out of the country.
Many estimate that each copper penny is worth about one and a half cents, though this fluctuates every day with the market value of copper. However, melting these pennies down is illegal, meaning that they are not viable for scrapping at this time.
The Copper and Zinc in a Penny
10, 2019, was $2.75 a pound. 6 That meant the copper in each penny was worth about 1.7 cents. Thus, the meltdown value of a pre-1982 penny was about 70% more than the face value.
Many times scrap yards are asked by people if they take pennies or other coins for scrap. While occasionally scrap yards “accept” coins as scrap, it is completely illegal in the US and both parties can be arrested for it.
Value of a 1943 Steel Penny
They are worth about 10 to 13 cents each in circulated condition and as much as 50 cents or more if uncirculated.
How Much Is My 1944 Penny Worth? If it's a normal 1944, 1944-D, or 1944-S cent, it isn't worth much. They are some of the most common of common-date Wheat cents. Prices range from around 20 cents in circulated condition, to 35 cents in uncirculated.
Back in 1981, an example of the 1943 bronze cent made national news when it sold for $10,000. Some 15 years later, another example sold for $82,500 at a 1996 auction. Today, 1943 bronze cents typically fetch between $100,000 and $250,000.
How do you remove copper from pennies?
Copper oxide dissolves in a mixture of weak acid and table salt-and vinegar is an acid. You could also clean your pennies with salt and lemon juice or orange juice, because those juices are acids, too.
Conclusion. We've seen that a penny melter can get 2.3860¢ for each investment of 1.00056¢ (the cost of a penny and natural gas to melt the penny). Therefore, it is technically profitable to melt pennies. Again, melting pennies for a profit is currently illegal under US law.
| Quantity | Price Each | Total Price Each |
|---|---|---|
| 34 - 3366 | $4.69 | $4.69 |
| 3400+ | Call for discount | |
Pennies and nickels contain copper, zinc, and other metals that are of great monetary value. It is because of this that melting down these metals for the sole intention of selling to offshore or local metal scraping industries is illegal.
On Reddit, some Americans have discussed the value of hoarding nickels as a potential investment and a hedge against inflation. Nickel has value outside of coin production, it is used in car batteries, among other products.
An orange Home Depot five-gallon bucket has a volume of 1,639.91 cubic inches. That means 731.28 or 731 rolls of pennies could fit into each bucket.
A pre-1982 penny has about 2 cents worth of copper in it. Some people hoard them, betting that the U.S. will kill the penny and then it will be legal to melt them down and they can make a killing. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: Every year, the U.S. government loses money minting pennies.
| Copper | Price/lb. |
|---|---|
| Bare Bright Wire (stripped/shiny) | $2.90 |
| #1 Tubing (clean tube/ clean fine wire) | $2.80 |
| #2 Tubing (paint/solder/burnt wire) | $2.50 |
| Tin Plated (wire/bus) | $2.50 |
They are relatively common in excellent condition since people tended to save them when they were first issued because they were unusual. Unfortunately, a regular 1943 steel penny is worth only a few cents. As the 1943 steel pennies circulated, the zinc coating started to turn dark gray and almost black.
Melting pennies will release Zinc Oxide fumes which cause flu-like symptoms including fever, chills, nausea, headache, fatigue, muscle aches, joint pains, shortness of breath, chest pain, and cough. Use a well ventilated area with power assisted ventilation to avoid breathing these fumes.
What year pennies are worth keeping?
Watch for low mintage years like 1955-S, 1939-D, 1933-D, and 1931-S. Depending on condition, rarer pennies are worth more. Look for all-copper pennies. Old pennies made before 1982 are 95% copper, which gives them an inherent metal value.
In the United States, burning banknotes is prohibited under 18 U.S.C. § 333: Mutilation of national bank obligations, which includes "any other thing" that renders a note "unfit to be reissued".
Considered to be the most valuable of the non-error Wheat Pennies, the 1914 D Wheat Penny commands an asking price range from $281 to $4,268.
The 1944 Lincoln penny is particularly desirable in the eyes of collectors not only because of its design, but also due to its scarcity. Being that there are no more 1944 Lincolns being produced, the scarcity of these coins is constantly on the rise, thus making the coins more valuable.
Are silver pennies rare? The Silver Penny is not rare. The United States Mint, under the authority of Congress, began producing pennies from steel with a thin layer of zinc to save copper for the war effort. This gave the penny an orange/brown copper color instead of its normal orange/copper color.
The 1914-D Lincoln Wheat penny is another key date in the series, and is the most valuable non-error penny. With a mintage of 1,193,000 it has one of the lowest mintages in the Wheat Cent series. It can be difficult to find uncirculated coins as they are much more rare.
Any wheat penny is worth at least 4 cents to most dealers. Given the popularity of collecting Lincoln Wheat cents, there will always be a demand for quality coins. Therefore, collect coins in the highest grade that you can afford.
The first 1943 copper cent was sold in 1958 for more than $40,000. In 1996, another went for a whopping $82,500. But those sales pale in comparison with the latest: this week, a dealer in New Jersey sold his 1943 penny for a staggering $1.7 million.
The easiest way to determine if a 1943 cent is made of steel, and not copper, is to use a magnet. If it sticks to the magnet, it is not copper. If it does not stick, the coin might be of copper and should be authenticated by an expert.
The first U.S. penny is 223 years old, and is also worth a lot more than one cent. It sold for nearly $1.2 million Thursday night at an auction in Baltimore.
How much is a 1944 steel penny worth?
Mint Mark Value
The 1944 D steel penny in average condition can be worth $34,000, while those with no mint mark in average condition are worth around $28,000. The 1944 S steel penny, in average condition, can be worth around $400,000. These can make megabucks, fetching over $1.11 million when in top condition!
Mint noted. Lincoln cents have a composition of 2.5% copper with the balance zinc.
$0.0251389 is the melt value for the 1909-1982 copper cent on August 26, 2022.
So for the past 30 years, pennies have been made with an alloy comprised of 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper, but pennies minted before 1982 are 95% copper and 5% zinc. The price of copper has more than quadrupled over the past 10 years. So a penny produced before 1982 is worth 2.2 cents based on the metal it contains.
If so then you could have some copper pennies. 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.
How Much Is My 1944 Penny Worth? If it's a normal 1944, 1944-D, or 1944-S cent, it isn't worth much. They are some of the most common of common-date Wheat cents. Prices range from around 20 cents in circulated condition, to 35 cents in uncirculated.
Melting a penny made after 1982 would result in about 0.8613¢ in scrap metal, as of February 5, 2021 copper and zinc spot prices⁴ ⁵.
| Copper | Price/lb. |
|---|---|
| Bare Bright Wire (stripped/shiny) | $2.90 |
| #1 Tubing (clean tube/ clean fine wire) | $2.80 |
| #2 Tubing (paint/solder/burnt wire) | $2.50 |
| Tin Plated (wire/bus) | $2.50 |
| Quantity | Price Each | Total Price Each |
|---|---|---|
| 34 - 3366 | $4.69 | $4.69 |
| 3400+ | Call for discount | |
Value of a 1943 Steel Penny
They are worth about 10 to 13 cents each in circulated condition and as much as 50 cents or more if uncirculated.
Which pennies should I keep?
- 15 Most Valuable Pennies Still in Circulation. ...
- 15. 1995 Lincoln Memorial Cent (Doubled Die) ...
- 1970 S Lincoln Memorial Cent (Small Date - High 7) ...
- 1999 S Lincoln Memorial Cent (Close AM) ...
- 1984 Lincoln Memorial Cent (Doubled Die Ear) ...
- 1983 Lincoln Memorial Cent (Doubled Die Reverse)
