If you are like most middle-aged girlies with children running around, you have one or more junk gores in your home. I am a lucky owner of at least 3 of those gores. They are filled with rubber bands, bobbles, hair ties, half opened bills and of course, spare change.

I'm taking stock in my junk because recently I have been cleaning out my house and doing the whole Maria Kondo thing so I have noticed that I have a ton of money in coins.

And it might just be the time for me to take a closer look at those coins. I invite you to do the same, especially the 1982 ones. Why?

Because, according to the Coin Collector, one of those little suckers could be worth a lot more than you think, like, $15,000 more! Wow. I know. Crazy, right?

Coin collectors everywhere are on the hunt for a super rare 1982 Lincoln penny. Trust me guys, if you find one, you could be swimming in cash or change.

But swimming in a pool of pennies might be painful. But you'll be rich, so who cares.

Why is this penny so valuable?

Well, folks, according to the coin channel, it's because of the year it came out. It was the year that the U.S. Mint switched from making copper to zinc pennies.

But here's the thing, some of them got mixed up and a handful of those pennies were made out of the wrong materials! So if you find a penny that weights over 3 grams instead of the regular 2.5, it's definitely a copper penny.

It would be like winning the golden ticket to American Idol or the Chocolate Factory, either one.

Oh! And here's another exciting fact, if the penny has the letter, "D" under the year, you're even close to that golden ticket. D means it was minted in Denver, according to the sun. 

Here’s how you can tell if the penny you found is THE ONE

All of these factors, together: size, date, "D", and the size of the font. 

The Coin Channel also mentioned that the date will be sitting farther from the rim of the penny.

Do you think you are up for the challenge? If this coin is thought to be in places like New York, then it could very well be in New England. Happy hunting!

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