How are US pennies made?

How are the current copper/zinc pennies manuafactured?

My inquiring mind wants to know:

Is the raw coil stock a sandwitch of zinc with copper on both sides?

Or are the blanks punched from zinc and copper plated before striking?

Or are the blanks punched from zinc, struck and then copper plated?

The edge of a penny looks like it's "all copper", unlike the edges of other coins, like quarters, where you can see the copper colored center material. So I'm expecting to learn that copper plating is involved.

I tried looking for an answer at the US Mint's web site but didn't find one. They do have a rather nice virtual tour here:

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It was interesting to learn that the sculpted masters for coins are about dinner plate sized and a rather arcane looking pantagraph engraving machine makes a coin size master from which the striking dies are decended.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia
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Yes. They are blanked, deburred, then struck.

The US does things differently. Most of the world uses sinker EDM for the dies.

The US still hand engraves the intaglio plates. ( for paper currency ) The rest of the world chemical etches.

Reply to
Gary A. Gorgen

The 'real' pennies we use in the UK are made from copper-plated steel.

Leon

Reply to
Leon

A slight change of subject. I think the new quarters and nickels suck. The stamping process leave lightly embossed coins, which frankly look as if they were made in India or some third world country. I think the older US coins were better stamped, and frankly better designed. Boo Hiss to the new coins, a pox on their designers, a plague on the people who stamp them out. Brownnsharp

Reply to
brownnsharp

Next you are going to tell us that you guys speak 'real' english.

Reply to
clutch

Be in a manufacturing business!!!

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Well, we are sorta headed in that direction...

Reply to
arachnid

I'm having trouble understanding that because the outside diameter of the penny shows no signs of a zinc center layer.

I just gave the OD of a penny a couple of swipes with one of SWMBO's cardboard fingernail sanders and the white zinc then became visible, over what appeared to be the entire thickness of the rim, minus a VERY thin stripe of copper at the very edge which looks to be only a few thou thick.

So, are you saying that the blanking process somehow smears copper over the OD which stays there during the deburring?

(Leaving to have another look at the US Mint's website.)

Whoops! I should have tried suckering you into betting me $20 on the validity of your answer.

Searching for "plated" got me this from the Horse's mouth*:

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Following is a brief chronology of the metal composition of the cent coin (penny):

  • The composition was pure copper from 1793 to 1837. * From 1837 to 1857, the cent was made of bronze (95 percent copper, and five percent tin and zinc). * From 1857, the cent was 88 percent copper and 12 percent nickel, giving the coin a whitish appearance. * The cent was again bronze (95 percent copper, and five percent tin and zinc) from 1864 to 1962. (Note: In 1943, the coin's composition was changed to zinc-coated steel. This change was only for the year 1943 and was due to the critical use of copper for the war effort. However, a limited number of copper pennies were minted that year. You can read more about the rare, collectible 1943 copper penny in "What's So Special about the 1943 Copper Penny.") * In 1962, the cent's tin content, which was quite small, was removed. That made the metal composition of the cent 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc. * The alloy remained 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc until
1982, when the composition was changed to 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper (copper-plated zinc). Cents of both compositions appeared in that year.

***********

'Twas on this page "The Composition of the Cent":

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Case closed,

Jeff (Who used to work at a place where we made the front ends of horses which were then shipped to Washington DC for final assembly.)

-- Jeffry Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE) "Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength."

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

What are you doing with all that profit? :-)

Harold

Reply to
Harold and Susan Vordos

Presumably because Washington DC is chock-fulla back ends of horses? :)

Reply to
Don Bruder

I agree with you whole heartedly.

Our current coinage looks like something they throw at you during mardigras.

Sometimes I pull a quarter from the '70s out of my pocket, and just marvel at the relief.

Paul K. Dickman

Reply to
Paul K. Dickman

Partially true, The US hand engraves the portriats, the rest of the artwork is chemically etched on the plates

Reply to
tornado_1976

If you would like to find out how thick the copper is, Here is a neat trick. There is a household cleaning product called C.L.R. (it stands for calcium, lime, rust) It's used to remove mineral stains on coffee pots, bathtubs, etc. Take a penny and scuff the edge all the way around so the zinc shows and place in a few oz. of CLR in a small jar for a day or two. The CLR will completely eat the zinc from in between the two copper skins.

Reply to
tornado_1976

Do the same thing, but instead of shaving the entire rim, just nick one small spot, and you end up with a spiffy "hollow penny" - It takes a bit longer though, due to the smaller exposed zinc surface.

Reply to
Don Bruder

I just gave the union 25 cents and have been giving the bank checks every month. What does it mean when the rep from the bank picks up the check for lunch?

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Cold War microdots!!

Gunner

"I think this is because of your belief in biological Marxism. As a genetic communist you feel that noticing behavioural patterns relating to race would cause a conflict with your belief in biological Marxism." Big Pete, famous Usenet Racist

Reply to
Gunner

I only make bets in beers. I buy a lot of beer. Well that will teach me to answer the wrong question. I think my answer applies to quarters, not pennys.

The way I read this. It implies, they are plated after being struck ?

PS. Did you ever build the penny sorter?

Reply to
Gary A. Gorgen

Didn't know that. thanks.

Most of my involvement with currency printing, (inspection actually) has been with Belgium and the Ukraine, very little with the US BEP.

Reply to
Gary A. Gorgen

I'd think that'd be the way to bet too.

No, that wasn't me, but I do remember the thread.

Someone here was trying to figure out a way to separate out the older "all copper" pennies because with copper up around $3/pound now the metal in them is marginally worth more than one cent and if he could process enough of them he might actually be able to sell the copper and make enough profit to pay for building the sorter and the transportation cost of all those pennies, with some left over for himself.

I wonder if he also thought about the cost of the labor and/or machines involved in rerolling all those zinc/copper pennies so he could turn them back into "folding money" at a bank?

It seemed to me like "A long run for a short slide."

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

I know what your saying. Last month I purchased a nicely packaged set of five uncirculated 1964 US coins (Penny through half dollar.) as a gag gift for my eldest son's 42nd birthday.

Those coins looked a heck of a lot nicer than today's do.

I put a note on his birthday card mentioning that those five coins would have purchased nearly three gallons of gasoline in the year they were struck.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

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