There are 8 different varieties of the 1982 Lincoln cent. Seven business strike varieties and one Proof.
The reason for so many different varieties of cents in 1982 was due mainly to the cost of producing Copper coins. The government likes to make a profit, this is called seigniorage or seigneurage. With Copper prices on the rise, the cost of producing a cent was nearly what it was worth. They needed a solution that that the public would easily accept. It was decided to use a Zinc core plated with Copper so it would resemble cents already in circulation, plus save big money on production. Copper plated Zinc and Copper cents were both minted in 1982. To know for sure which coin is which, you need to weigh them. The Zinc planchet weighs 2.5g and the Copper planchet weighs 3.11g.
The first Copper plated Zinc cents were struck at the West Point Mint, the San Francisco Mint along with the Philadelphia Mint. None of the business strike coins minted at these three mints have a mint mark.
Later in the year the Denver Mint began production of the new Copper plated Zinc cents using a new master hub, which resulted in a smaller date.
The San Francisco Mint also minted some 3,857,479 "S" mint marked Proof cents.
Photos By LincolnCentsOnline
Photos By LincolnCentsOnline
Photos By LincolnCentsOnline
Photos By LincolnCentsOnline
Photos By LincolnCentsOnline
Photos By LincolnCentsOnline
Photos By LincolnCentsOnline
Photos By LincolnCentsOnline
To learn more about large and small date cents, click here
There are also some rare varieties for the 1982 Lincoln cents. There are doubled dies from all three mints including a Proof cent from San Francisco. To see the 1982 doubled die cents, click here