Thick and heavy cent planchet

[JamesWiles]

A friend has a 1983-D Lincoln cent that weighs 2.8 grams. He says it is thicker than normal. I examined it and it is a copper plated zinc planchet. Any ideas? Foreign planchet? The correct weight would be 2.5 grams. Is this within tolerance?

[diamond]

2.8 grams is out of tolerance. The most prosaic explanation is that it was struck on a zinc planchet punched out of rolled-thick stock. I can't rule out a foreign planchet or foreign stock, but I always opt for the most mundane explanation. Several other heavy copper-plated zinc cents are known, some much heavier than this. At least one is a proof.