Background
How much does a box of copper pennies weigh? Answer: 17 pounds, after coin roll hunting for a few years, we have determined one full $25 box of copper pennies weighs 17 pounds.
Well, Dave, How much does a mixed copper and zinc box of pennies weigh? Answer: about 14 pounds. Most likely what you get from the bank is going to be a mixed box of zinc and copper circulated pennies. When we get the boxes they have weighted in consistency about 14 pounds.
If you pull out the copper pennes like we do and then add them back to the same bankers box and weight it, you end up with 17 pounds. Hopefully, that answers the weights and measures questions.
Note to self: I created this article to track the weights and measures of this project. Here are a few thoughts and background for those just joining the party. Initially, i was storing the coins in a tin can. Shortly after I had my first can filled, I realized it would make more sense to roll the coins and put them back in the original boxes I get from the bank.
In addition, after learning 1982 was a transition year, the first batch of coins had a mix of 1982 coins. I knew going forward that I was not going to want to include these in the final boxes. We are after the solid copper coins for the purpose of this project. The only way to determine what the metal content of the 1982 coins is to weight them individually, I’ve decided to set these aside for now.
Style one
There are two style boxes the bank gives you when you pickup a full circulated $25.00 box of pennies, at least in my area. The first box I received is this one shown below. The boxes have red lettering on the exterior. But more importantly, they also have holes on one side of the box. This feature made it really easy to see if you were getting new coins or old coins.
This type of box with red lettering and holes weights 2.2 ounces all by itself. That is the image you see below. I took the box and weighed it. This image show you exactly what it weights on the scale.
If you add up the weight of the box and the weight of the wrappers this adds up to 4.4 ounces. The image you see below is the box and the wrappers together on the scale. All this is worth noting as you’ll see below once the coins are added.
Once I have an idea of the weight of the packaging, It’s time to add the coins and weight it all. The following image shows the red box with holes, and a full fifty rolls of copper coins. As you can see if the packaging is 4.4oz, and the total weight of the coins and packaging is 17.48, then the weight of the copper is about 17lbs. There is a .2oz difference, but I’m ok with rounding the weight of the coins to 17lbs. That is the number I’ll be using from here on out.
If you remember a mixed box of copper and zinc weights in around 14lbs. I talk about this measure in the first coin roll hunting article I wrote several years ago. But for our purposes, a solid box of copper is 17lbs.
Style two
The next style box I’d like to show is the one below, which is solid on all sides. and has the lettering $25 PENNIES on the outside. While these are a bit stronger, you are not able to see the contents of the box. This becomes important, as there was at least one case when I received a box like this which had completely new coins. If I had received one of the boxes with holes as shown above, I may have not brought that one home as we are not interested in the newer zinc coins.
This style box with red lettering weights 3.6 ounces all by itself. This is the image you see below, just the box on the scale.
The weight of this style box and the wrappers weights in at 5.6 ounces. This is the image you see below. It is also worth noting, there are 50 empty coin wrappers in both images when I was weighing them. So this measure is the the box And all 50 wrappers combined.
Once I have an idea of the weight of the packaging, It’s time to add the coins and weight it all together. The following image shows the red lettering style box with fifty rolls of copper coins. As you can see, if the packaging is 5.6oz and weight of the coins and packaging is 17 5.8, then the weight of the copper is about 17lbs. There is a slight .02oz difference, but I’m ok with rounding the weight of the coins to 17lbs. That is the number I’ll be using from here on out.
Conclusion
Bottom line, $25 in copper pennies weights in at 17 pounds for either style box and wrappers we use. That is the number I’ll be using going forward to calculate copper bullion prices. With that in mind, one $25 box of copper pennies weights 17 pounds. The current price of copper at the time I wrote this article on July 23, 2021 is $4.40. That would calculate as follows: (17lbs x. $4.40) = $74.80. For a $25.00 investment in pennies, (face value) you can have $74.80 in copper bullion.
And that my friends is the goal for this coin roll hunting project. We want to start stacking full boxes of copper pennies. I’m not going to lie, its a long process and lots to work to sort a full box of pennies, but hey, nothing is easy!
Price
