 In 1981 , faced with another rise in the price of copper , the Mint decided to change the composition of the cent to copper @-@ covered zinc . After contract difficulties and production delays , the first such cents were struck at the West Point Mint ( without mintmark ) on January 7 , 1982 . Denver did not convert to the new composition until October 21 . A few pennies were struck by error in brass dated 1983 and are extremely rare . A number of small changes were made to the obverse design in the 1990s and early 2000s . 
