Is a 1994 brass penny worth anything?

Answer 1

If it's a US penny it's made from copper coated zinc not brass and is worth one cent.

Correction Edit: Pennies have been made from a variety of different compositions over the years. Since 1982, about mid year, they have been made with solid zinc (a greyish metal) coated with a thin layer of copper. However, prior to this, they have nearly always been mostly copper. From the time they were created until 1857, they were 100% copper. Then for about seven years they were made with 88% copper and the rest nickel. Then, until 1982, they were made with 95% copper, and different variations of tin and zinc. Sometime this mix was called brass, and sometimes bronze. (All years but 1943 when they were made out of steel.)

However, calling the mixture brass or bronze (both of which sometimes share definitions) is not entirely accurate since brass usually has between 45 and 70 percent copper and bronze rarely has more than 90. The most common pennies found with a date prior to 1982 are, for all intents and purposes, copper.

As to a more direct answer to the question, with the rise of the cost of metals, the amount of copper in a pre-1982 penny actually ends up being more than a cent. The price of copper fluctuates fairly regularly so it wouldn't be out of the ordinary to find that the copper in an older penny is worth as much as 2.5 cents. However, the copper plated zinc pennies made after 1982 are worth next to nothing besides their face value.

If your penny is much lighter it is possible that it was victim to a school chemistry experiment where the copper was discolored or even dissolved partially leaving a higher percentage of zinc/nickle/tin and changing the color to a bronze.

Answer 2

A 1994 brass penny is not a genuine U.S. coin as pennies are made of copper-plated zinc. If you have a 1994 brass penny, it could be a novelty or altered coin, but it would not be worth more than face value to collectors.