Designed by: Victor D. Brenner (obverse) and Frank Gasparro (reverse)
Issue Dates: 1982-2008
Composition: planchet consisting of 99.2% zinc and 0.8% copper, with an external plating of pure copper
Diameter: 19 mm
Weight: 2.49 grams (38.58 grains)
Edge: Plain
Business Strike Mintage: Several hundred billion
Proof Mintage: Approximately 75 million

By 1982 the price of copper had risen to the point at which Treasury officials feared that cents would be hoarded for their metallic content. To forestall this and also to permit production of cents at lower cost, the earlier alloy consisting primarily of copper was replaced with a new format consisting of a core composed of 0.992 part zinc and 0.008 part copper with an external plating of pure copper, resulting in a total metallic content for the issue of 0.976 part zinc and 0.024 part copper. In the year 1982 the earlier as well as the later metallic compositions were employed.

The idea proved to be a success, and by 1986 Mint Director Donna Pope stated that cents were in abundant supply and that there was no hint of public hoarding. By that time the run-up in copper prices, characteristic of the activity in nearly all metals markets during the early 1980s, had subsided. As a current coin, the Lincoln cent type from 1982 to date has been produced in large quantities and probably will be produced in large quantities in years to come.

Specimens are readily available in Uncirculated and Proof finishes.