Tag Archives: 1982-D zinc cents

Proxiblog Featured in USA Today

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Bugeja discusses 1982-D Small Date Bronze Cent

USA Today published a comprehensive article on the hype about the 1982-D Small Date bronze cent variety, noting its rarity–only two found–and odds of finding the third, along with eBay sellers out to scam others by selling ordinary cents from that year. (In 1982, the US Mint made 16,729,361,847 cents in Denver and Philadelphia.)

Proxiblog and its founder, Michael Bugeja, figure prominently in the 8/17/26 USA Today piece.

“I’m happy to see the widespread distribution of this article by Mike Snider,” Bugeja said. USA Today has an estimated weekday print circulation of roughly 89,200 to 103,600 copies, alongside over 2 million digital subscribers, making it one of the most widely read daily newspapers in the United States. “Perhaps this will enlighten all those new collectors believing they will find the rarity in pocket change.

“There are better ways to spend hobby time.”

Excerpts:

The USA Today article quotes Bugeja and Proxiblog extensively along with these other experts: John Brush, president of rare coin trading and auctioning company DLRC;  Donn Pearlman, a spokesman for the Professional Numismatists Guild; and Mary Sauvain, executive director of the Anti-Counterfeiting Educational Foundation.

You can access the USA Today article by clicking here.

For those interested in Proxiblog’s extensive coverage of the 1982-D Small Date Bronze Cent, read:

Proxiblog.org is one of the premier coin collecting sites on the web. Founded in 2011, by Michael Bugeja, former columnist for Coin World and past member of the US Treasury Department’s Citizen Coinage Advisory Committee, Proxiblog remains one of the earliest consistently accessible coin blogs. It has the largest illustrated coin glossary as well as a directory of errors and varieties with associated articles, a “new and youth hobbyist” tab, 20 most accessed articles, and some 40 coin videos about rarities, doubled dies, and other hobby insights.

If you like posts like this, subscribe so you can be informed whenever there is a new article or column.

Proxiblog also has thousands of followers on Facebook Coin Groups, YouTube and other social media. To get the latest discussion and commentary, be sure to friend us by clicking here.

You can find more information about types, varieties, errors, grading, bidding and buying in Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider buying or gifting the work for a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist blog. Thank you.

SCAM POSTS: 1982-D SMALL DATE 3.1 GRAM CENTS

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Here’s a challenge for all of you looking for the third example of the 1982-D Small Date 3.1 Gram Rarity. Go to eBay and search “1982-D Small Date 3.1 Grams.” Before you go, make sure you know the markers:

You also can refresh your memory by reading an entire article on those markers. Click here for that.

Also, here is background on mintages:

Variety NameCompositionWeightDate HubEstimated Mintage / Rarity
1982-D Large Date Copper95% Copper / 5% Zinc3.11 gramsLarge DateCommon (Estimated in the hundreds of millions)
1982-D Large Date ZincCopper-plated Zinc Core2.50 gramsLarge DateCommon (Estimated in the billions)
1982-D Small Date ZincCopper-plated Zinc Core2.50 gramsSmall DateCommon (Estimated in the billions)
1982-D Small Date Copper (Transitional Error)95% Copper / 5% Zinc3.11 gramsSmall DateExtremely Rare (Only 2 known examples exist)

Here are the first 20 of my search. Got tired, but could have found dozens if not hundreds more if I had all day.

IT’S 3.1 GRAMS: Take my Word for It!

1982 SMALL DATE, NO D, One of Billions!

I’M SO LUCKY I FOUND FIVE!

IF I BLUR THE PHOTO, MAYBE THEY WON’T KNOW IT’S ZINC!

IT’S THE UNHOLY GRAIL LARGE DATE!

LARGE DATE: NOT RARE!

LARGE DATE, SCRATCHED: NO COLLECTOR VALUE!

LARGE DATE, ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE!

LARGE DATE, CLEANED!

LARGE DATE: I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS BUT MAY BE VALUABLE!

NO ERROR, NOT RARE!

LARGE DATE BUT COIN APP SAYS RARE!

LARGE DATE WITH A MINTMARK, DUMMY!

IF I SAY SMALL DATE, WHO WOULD KNOW?

LARGE DATE, COMMON, BUT I WANT THOUSANDS!

LARGE DATE, ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE!

LARGE DATE, GRADED SO I WANT MONEY!

ANOTHER LARGE DATE, GRADED, SO I ALSO WANT MONEY!

I’VE STRUCK IT RICH … SO I’LL SCAM YOU BECAUSE YOU CAN’T TELL LARGE DATE FROM SMALL!

IF I SAY SMALL DATE, IT’S SMALL DATE … SO PAY ME!

You can continue searching for the third example of the 1982-D Small Date 3.1 Grams. There is a desperation about it because collectors in the past decade theorized you can find this in pocket change. Then social media hyped the rarity!

If you think you have found the unicorn, and are sure that you know the markers, odds are you’re wrong. If you send it in for grading at PCGS or NGC, and you found the third example–one found in 2016 and another in 2019–be prepared for the national media to come knocking on your door.

If you like posts like this, subscribe so you can be informed whenever there is a new article or column.

Proxiblog also has thousands of followers on Facebook Coin Groups, YouTube and other social media. To get the latest discussion and commentary, be sure to friend us by clicking here.

You can find more information about types, varieties, errors, grading, bidding and buying in Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider buying or gifting the work for a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist blog. Thank you.

1982-D Small Date Cent Scam

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There are all manner of scams by people looking to cash in on collectors who do not know markers for ultra rarities. And when it comes to the 1982-D Small Date Bronze transitional error, there is a desperation by newbies educated by clickbait social media that the third example is out there in pocket change.

Sellers take advantage of such ignorance.

If you are interested in an article about the various types of 1982 cents, including all markers for the transitional error, click here.

But let’s cut to the chase with basic knowledge.

Only two 1982-D Small Date 3.1 grams have been found.

Here’s how they look close up.

Here are markers for the small date.

DO NOT bid or buy any coin that is placed on a scale reading 3.1. You’ll be buying a zinc small date, of little or no value. Or a coin on tinkered scale.

You will see several examples on eBay of sellers showing a regular 1982-D large date bronze cent in a PCGS holder. Sellers think if they claim a regular strike is the small date, you’ll believe it, only because it is holdered by PCGS and you don’t know the markers.

Here’s an example:

Here’s how to decipher.

There are two numbers below the condition. In this case below, 146021.58, means two things: 146021 goes to the CoinFacts designation and the 58, the condition, AU58. In the image below, you can see that the 146021 goes to the regular large date strike.

Here’s another example with the seller claiming this large date is a small date. Again, the 146021 gives it away.

The seller of the above coin did not take kindly to my message that this is a scam.

He doesn’t like his time being wasted. He just wants to waste your money.

Ultra rarities are not found in pocket change; when one is, that becomes a national news story. If you think you found one, do not post it on social media and claim authenticity. If you are so sure, send it to PCGS, NGC, ANACS or CAC. And if you want to buy an ultra rarity, make sure you know how to read the holder company label.

If you like posts like this, subscribe so you can be informed whenever there is a new article or column.

Proxiblog also has thousands of followers on Facebook Coin Groups, YouTube and other social media. To get the latest discussion and commentary, be sure to friend us by clicking here.

You can find more information about types, varieties, errors, grading, bidding and buying in Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider buying or gifting the work for a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist blog. Thank you.

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