FREE: 1943 LINCOLN WARTIME STEEL PENNY "NICE"

The listing, 1943 LINCOLN WARTIME STEEL PENNY "NICE" has ended.

Up for auction is this 1943 Lincoln Wartime Steel Penny.

Coin Specifications
Category: Lincoln Cents, Wheat Reverse (1909-1958)
Mint: Philadelphia
Mintage: 684,628,670
Obverse Designer: Victor D. Brenner
Reverse Designer: Victor D. Brenner
Composition: Zinc Coated Steel
Weight: 2.70 Grams
Diameter: 19mm
Edge: Plain

In 1943, with copper urgently needed for combat-related purposes, the Mint made Lincoln cents from zinc-coated steel. The substitute proved unsatisfactory, and from 1944 through 1946 the Mint instead used the brass alloy first tried in 1942; this lacked the small percentage of tin employed before and after the war. At least a portion of this brass was obtained from salvaged cartridge cases, which did the job nicely. The one-year experiment left a lasting legacy when the Mint inadvertently struck minuscule numbers of 1943 cents in bronze and a slightly greater number of 1944 cents in steel. Both are quite rare and valuable. Many years ago, a false rumor spread around the country that Henry Ford would trade a new car in exchange for the fabled 1943 copper!

Dirt and light corrosion but otherwise has very little wear and in Very Nice Condition! Free Shipping!!!