A 1957 penny is made of bronze, an alloy of 95% copper with the rest being varying amounts of tin and zinc. There were over 1 billion pennies made in that year, with all of them being made of bronze.
one penny
The last copper (actually bronze) U.S. cents were struck in mid-1982. Coins from that year exist in both bronze and copper-plated zinc varieties.
1860 The last copper pennies were made in England, and the same year the first bronze pennies were made.
1982 was the last year for 95%-copper pennies. And the first year for the zinc pennies. They made both types that year, and the only way to tell them apart is by weight -- the zinc pennies are lighter.Answer100% copper pennies were last minted by the US in 1857. These were large cents, about the size of the "golden" dollar coins. The Flying Eagle and Indian Cents from 1856 to 1864 were 88% copper and 12% nickel. Beginning in 1864 Indian Cents, and later Lincoln Cents, were minted in 95% copper and 5% tin, technically this is bronze. AnswerAnother way to tell the copper penny from the copper coated zinc penny is when a penny is dropped on a hard surface the copper penny will have a ringing sound, the zinc penny will not ring.
1982
US Coins the last year for a copper (actually bronze) penny is 1982. In 1982 the penny was made as a copper coin and a copper plated zinc coin. You have to weigh them to tell the difference. Bronze cents weigh 3.11 gm and zinc ones weigh 2.5 gm. The penny has remained a copper plated zinc since 1982 however there is talk of changing it again to a copper plated steel coin. In 1943 the Lincoln US cent was steel coated with zinc because the copper was needed for ammunition during the War. In 1944 it went back the copper coin. Today the cost of copper is too high to make a solid copper coin/penny. In fact the cost of stamping/minting the coins and raw materials, the penny and nickel cost more to produce than their face value.
The 1863 Indian Head cent is still the copper-nickel composition (.880 copper & .120 nickel) 1864 is the year they were first struck in bronze.
The British Penny has been made from copper-plated steel since 1992.Note that it's one penny, not "one pence". Pence is plural. "One pence" is like saying "one mice".From 1860 to 1992, British Pennies were made from bronze which, depending on the year, may have consisted of anything between 92 and 97% copper.
Our word 'penny' comes from the Old German word 'pfennig'. First use of 'penny' in English, meaning 'small/little coin' originates early 9th. century. Interestingly, the (strictly) earliest English 'penny', as one-twelveth of a shilling, was first made of silver, then bronze, then only later, copper.
The last year of issue was 1909
The last year for copper US pennies was 1982.