Lincoln cent 1982-D weighs 3.02 grams, underweight but why?

I received this 1982-D Lincoln cent in change a couple of days ago.

I save the copper Lincoln cents and know that in 1982 the US mints made both copper and zinc cents.

The copper cents are supposed to weigh 3.11 grams and the zinc cents 2.50 grams.

This one weighs 3.02 grams:


United States Lincoln cent 1982-D

The coin is discolored but doesn't look damaged or even much circulated.

To check my scale I weighed several pre-1980 cents and always got 3.11 or 3.12 grams. I also weighed some other coins and they showed correct weights.

One explanation is that the "correct" weight of 3.11 grams is an average and that these cents can weigh from 2.98 grams to 3.30 grams. However I can not find an "official" statement of this mint tolerance.

I did find a 1982-D 3.01 gram cent on Ebay which sold for $4.00 so these underweight cents do exist.

Does anyone have an explanation for the low weight?

 

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I believe that the mint tolerance is 5%. Your coin could have been struck on a slightly rolled thin stock.

 

@furryfrog02 That's what I was going to say also.

 

Atkins diet?

 

The question was answered on another forum. The tolerance for copper cents is plus or minus 0.13 from 3.11 grams, or 2.98 to 3.24 grams.

Now let's see who has the lightest or heaviest 1982 cent.