The last pure copper penny was made in 1982. These old ones are hard to find but still in circulation. Jinny Sisson ---------- Original Message ---------- From: Pamela Burnley via MSA-talk <msa-talk@minlists.org> To: msa-talk@minlists.org Subject: [MSA-talk] Re: For USA members: the penny is being phased out Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2025 14:28:29 -0700 Hi Andrea, Short lengths (1-2 inches) of 22 gauge copper wire work well. Pennies haven't been made of copper since the late 60s Cheers Pamela On 10/28/2025 1:20 PM, Andrea Koziol via MSA-talk wrote:In intro labs and mineralogy labs, the USA penny is a useful hardness testing item.Well they are now being phased out and no more are being made. Hoard your pennies!What will we use when pennies are completely gone? Andrea KoziolStill looking for more #MineralMonday posts - send them to my email address. -- ************************************************************Dr. Andrea Koziol, emeritaDept. of Earth and Environmental Geosciences300 College ParkDayton OH 45469-2364akoziol1@udayton.edu************************************************************* _______________________________________________MSA-talk mailing list -- msa-talk@minlists.orgTo unsubscribe send an email to msa-talk-leave@minlists.org-- Dr. Pamela C. Burnley, Professor (she/her/hers)Department of GeoscienceUniversity of Nevada, Las VegasLas Vegas, Nevada 89154-4010Phone (702)895-5460