Hello, today I was reading the article on robpaulsenlive.com about the 1973 aluminium penny.I then weighed my 1973 pennies and found a single one that was 3.05g.The other 73s were regular weight.In between there was a 1972 penny with a weight of 3.04g. Have I perhaps found an aluminium penny??? Kind regards and have a nice weekend.
If it was aluminum it would be white or silverish in color, and the weight should approximately 1. gram
Terwie, I am a little confused. Why would a copper/bronze looking coin make you think that it is aluminum?
I like this chart, too, but... where do you get the odd nominal-weight figures for Barber/Merc/Roosevelt silver dimes and Barber/SL/Washington quarters? The Red Book, and all other references I remember seeing, state that minor silver coin weights were constant from the 1873 Coinage Act until 1964. Dimes were 2.5g, quarters 6.25g, and halves 12.5g. The weights you list are all within tolerance of those figures, but I thought the ranges should all be centered on those figures. Can you point to sources for the odd numbers?
I have no idea. The chart was posted by someone on this forum some time ago and I bookmarked it for future ref. It appears to be taken from www.facebook.com/groups/USCoinEducation
That's what I was afraid of -- it looks complete and authoritative, but at least some of the information is incorrect. That makes me unsure how much I can trust the rest of it.
The chart is clearly wrong in several instances... such as the Seated Half dollar from 1873 through the Barber to 1915 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/coinage-act-1873-1095 Put together, the half dollar must be a fineness of 0.900 fine +/ 0.003 and weight of +/- 1.5 grains (0.0971984 grams). During those years the US Assay Commission was in operation and would have detected out-of-spec coins.
