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  1. #1
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    Light Wheat Penny

    Good morning.
    I have eight Wheat Pennies. The all are about 3 grams in weight except for one of the 1944 ones which reads 2.78 grams. Can wear and tear drop or decomposition cause its' weight to that ? Or could it be made of some other material after coming out of the Steel Penny Era of 1943 ?
    IMG_1536.jpgIMG_1538.jpg

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    Paid Member enamel7's Avatar
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    That appears to be severely corroded, so that's the culprit.

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    Okay. Thanks. I weighed similar coins with this type of corrosion and the weight was not drastically affected, so I felt that the material could be the issue in both cases. ( corrosion and weight ).

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    Paid Member enamel7's Avatar
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    It's only. 22 grams light and I believe that's well within mint tolerance range.

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    True. Make sense.

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    Paid Member Petespockets55's Avatar
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    This is a good example of a corrosive substance causing the damage.
    Notice the bumpy surfaces, obv. & rev. Along with the light weight is pretty definitive.

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  13. #7
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    Thanks for your input. Good point and observation.

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    Paid Member jfines69's Avatar
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    The weight of the solid Cent is 3.11 grams https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/31/5112 +/- 0.13 grams https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/31/5113 or 2.98 to 3.24 grams will be with in tolerances... Your coin is slightly under weight by 0.22 grams... It most likely is due to the corrosion that is evident on both sides... It may have also been at or just below the minimum allowable weight of 2.98 grams... Hope that helps a little!!!
    Jim
    (A.K.A. Elmer Fudd) Be verwy verwy quiet... I'm hunting coins!!! Good Hunting!!!

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    Registered User GrumpyEd's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ikuna View Post
    Good morning.
    I have eight Wheat Pennies. The all are about 3 grams in weight except for one of the 1944 ones which reads 2.78 grams. Can wear and tear drop or decomposition cause its' weight to that ? Or could it be made of some other material after coming out of the Steel Penny Era of 1943 ?
    IMG_1536.jpgIMG_1538.jpg


    The steel 1943 cents were 2.7g so it's in that range and there are known steel 44 cents. Everyone is probably right about it being a corroded copper but you can try a magnet on it, if it picks it up it's steel, if not it's a corroded copper.

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  19. #10
    Paid Member jfines69's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GrumpyEd View Post
    The steel 1943 cents were 2.7g so it's in that range and there are known steel 44 cents. Everyone is probably right about it being a corroded copper but you can try a magnet on it, if it picks it up it's steel, if not it's a corroded copper.
    Good call Ed... I totally forgot about that... Thanks for the catch!!!
    Jim
    (A.K.A. Elmer Fudd) Be verwy verwy quiet... I'm hunting coins!!! Good Hunting!!!

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