So I've been searching boxes of pennies for a while and today I got a roll with an abnormal number of copper cents (21) but it was also the first time that the roll has been short (total number of pennies in the roll was 48). Do you guys know if the old copper cents were marginally thicker than zincolns?
I had 2 out of the 3 things I would have needed to check this: calipers, a Zincoln and a copper cent. Unfortunately, I'm missing the copper cent. But, really, I don't think they were thicker than Zincolns by a significant amount. To account for the discrepancy you were seeing, they'd have to be 10% thicker, and I think that's a little absurd given that the weight tolerance is +- 4% or so on a Lincoln cent.
The memorial Lincoln cents (the ones with the different images on the reverse) were supposedly thicker than the standard coins. Did your roll have mostly 2009-present cents? According to numista, they're 1.55mm thick, as opposed to pre-2009 cents which are listed as 1.3mm thick. Alternately, were there steelies in there? They were supposedly 1.5mm thick.
I find this hard to believe. That would make a roll of post-2009 cents 7.75cm long, compared to 6.5cm for pre-2009. That's half an inch longer. Surely a change like that would have caused all kinds of commotion...?
Brings up a question that either I've never asked or asked and have forgotten. Where on a coin do you measure its thickness? I'm guessing the rim since for stacking purposes that's supposed to have the greatest measurement.
I wouldn't say it's really common, but it's certainly not unheard of either for a roll to be short a coin or two now and then. Usually somewhere in that roll there's going to be 2 or 3, maybe more, coins that are thicker on one side than they are on the other. So when the person rolling the coins is using a stack type counter instead of actually counting the coins, those coins with the thick edges can bring you up short in the roll.
I don't know any facts about your question brandon, but I do roll hunt cents and I always see some that are noticeably bigger than others. I check the dates on them on occasion, and it seems the 72 and 73 cents, and possibly others are thicker than average. Just from what I've seen, may be an optical illusion or all in my head
So, you are missing some common cents or a few cents short of a full load. Don't be too cent-a-metal about it. Unless it keeps up, then you'll be a dollar short, just don't get a day behind. By the way, where is that guy that's always got an extra dollar and is a day ahead?
I'm missing some common cents and am a few cents short of a full load, that's probably why I couldn't comprehend the rest of the message
