Took my searched box of pennies back to the bank today to exchange for another. Got home and weighed them on a digital scale. 14.2 lbs. Turned the box over and discovered they were all shiny, brand new. I forgot to look at the bank! I want old pennies, not new ones. So, I took them back and the two tellers were back there for about ten minutes looking for circulated boxes. Finally, they came back with a circulated box with a rubber band around it because one end was torn open in transit to the bank. I didn't see any shiny ones on that one. So, good to go. When I weighed that box, it was a wopping 15.6 lbs. Wow! Must be a lot of coppers in that one. The last box I went through weighed 15 lbs. and had a lot of coppers. Hope to find something cool. Was just wondering what is the weight of the heaviest box of pennies anyone else has had through their bank?
FWIW I seem to remember weighing copper cents once and there was just under 3 rolls per pound, about $2,85 as I recall.
I weigh the box to determine if there is a lot of copper in it. Then I weigh each individual coin to separate the copper from the zinc before I put them under the scope. Makes searching go faster when you don't have to weigh them. Not saying you save any time overall though because it takes a long time to weigh 2500 pennies. Just to know 100% whether it is copper or zinc when I look at them helps me not get too excited when I see the date, LOL! Like 1982-D small date, 83, 83-D, 89-D, 90-D. Or you could find a copper "zinc wanna be".
I weigh the 82's and 83's. I want to know that the 82 is copper and that the 83 is not. Granted it's a long shot but better safe than sorry. And if you like buying wheats by the bag it helps to know how many rolls i.e what the face value of a five or ten pound bag will be to evaluate its face value vs cost.
The copper cent is 3.11g +/- 0.13g The zinc cent is 2.5g +/- 0.13g (BTW those +/- are 95% values, 5% of the coins could be outside that range) 50 rolls x 50 coin = 2,500 coins 2,500 x 2.5 g = 6,250g or 13.8 pounds (remember, the box and wrappers and glue and stuff also have some weight) 2,500 x 3.11g = 7,775g or 17.2 pounds All pound weights are avoirdupois (453g) not troy (12x31.1 = 373.2g)
I don’t ever take a box of brand new ones back right away to exchange. They might sit around for a while but you never know what you’ll find in the new ones!
