by Lorelei Cohen

Created on: January 22, 2009   Last Updated: February 01, 2009

How do you tell if that copper colored penny rattling around at the bottom of your piggy bank is really made of copper? Over the many years that pennies have been around, they have been made from varying combinations of copper, zinc, nickel, and tin, so how do you tell if your penny is copper or zinc? How do you know if your penny is actually a genuine copper!

Fortunately there are a few clues to help you out. The weight of the penny, the sound of the penny, and the date of the penny are all indications of whether it is made from copper or zinc. A copper penny is heavier than a zinc penny, and a copper penny also has a different sound to it when dropped, than a zinc penny does. A copper penny weighs 3.11 grams while a zinc penny weighs in at 2.5 grams. If you don't feel like going through all the work of weighing in your penny just give it a little toss upwards. A copper penny will have a slight ringing sound when it lands whereas a zinc penny will just hit with a little thunk.

If you know the date or production year of your penny than you just might be able to figure it out. So shake that little penny out of the penny jar and take a little closer look at it. If your penny is older than 1857 than it is indeed a pure copper penny. All pennies minted previous to 1857 were made of one hundred percent copper, and were in fact, the only true copper pennies to be put into general circulation in the United States.

From 1857 onward pennies have been created from a blend of metals rather than from genuine one hundred percent copper. For an eight year period between 1857 and 1864 pennies were created using an eighty-eight percent copper and twelve percent nickel blend. So the copper penny still sported quite a nice percentage of copper over it's nickle counterpart.

From 1864 to 1942 the ratio of copper within the United States penny actually increased. Pennies minted during this time period were made from a ninety-five percent copper, and five percent tin, and zinc combination.

This is where World War ll comes into play in how the penny is minted. Because the war effort required copper, the penny like many other things, paid the sacrifice. In 1943 the penny contained absolutely zero copper, it was made of steel, and coated with zinc.

Between 1944 and 1982 the noble penny returned to it's ninety-five percent copper percentage combined with either a five percent blend of zinc, or mix of zinc and tin.

As copper became a more valuable resource, it was discovered that it was beginning

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