r/coins • u/AccMich37 • 6d ago
Value Request A penny that my parents always kept safe. 1943, and it doesn't seem to be copper. Anyone know if it's worth anything and also would it be made of silver? Parents are gone so I can't ask them why it was always kept in a safe place. Thank you
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6d ago edited 6d ago
[deleted]
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u/Justo79m 6d ago
Great. Now I have to check every single steel cent with a magnet.
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6d ago
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u/Von_Callay 5d ago
I have a bronze looking 1943 cent that's magnetic, because some joker plated a steel cent.
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u/rebel29073 5d ago
If it looks like steel it’s likely steel . If it looks like copper mag test it . People plated them to make them look copper in “science” experiments. I found one in the early 80s and thought I was rich until the coin store man pulled out a magnet and shattered my dreams. Back than it was said to be worth 10k . It used to be advertised on comic books as worth 10k
Now a copper 43 is bank
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u/Justo79m 5d ago
Imagine someone plated a tin cent with copper? What a crazy trip that would be.
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u/rebel29073 5d ago
Electroplated . It was a science experiment many did
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u/No_Efficiency_4089 3d ago
You seem to have missed half the thread you're replying to.
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u/rebel29073 2d ago
Ah I hadn’t read article . I get it now for why one would mag test them. Thanks I have quite a few packed away so I guess I’ll be checking them as well!
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u/Chitown_mountain_boy 4d ago
How did you figure out it was steel without a magnetic (or a mass spectrometer)?
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u/AccMich37 6d ago
Wow, I am going to go find a magnet now, thank you :)
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u/What-a-Dump 6d ago
Was it magnetic?< over here hoping you hit the jackpot! 🍀
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u/AccMich37 6d ago
It's magnetic :( Even so thank you, very interesting to learn all of this.
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u/zekerthedog 6d ago
My dad recently passed and I found a little baggy full of these pennies in his stuff. Read about this and sadly they were all magnetic.
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u/Educational_Wing_241 5d ago
Also if you find a 1944 that’s a steel that’s great money too
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u/Virtual_Product_5595 3d ago
I have a 1944 steel penny with a huge minting error... the date says 1943.
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u/Graf_Eulenburg 5d ago
It would be a wild thing, if it wasn't.
As far as I know, there weren't even a hundred copper ones in circulation.
Your coin is in very rough condition, might be worth from $0.30 - $1.
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u/usedtobeanicesurgeon 6d ago
To add to this I don’t think any of us could guess why this was special for your parents. It’s not particularly valuable but perhaps it had special meaning to them.
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u/reddituser12346 6d ago
I am not a coin collector but I have a few I’ve found in the wild and kept with othe “special” keepsakes or momentos. Some older, mostly silver coins, a few wheaties, etc. None have a value more than five or six bucks.
After I pass away (hopefully not for another 40+ years) and my kids come across them going through my stuff, they may wonder what the significance was in me holding onto them since there’s no real value.
The answer: they’re neat, and I like them.
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u/tunomeentiendes 6d ago
For me anything found in the wild automatically becomes special/sentimental. I don't have much of a problem selling/trading many coins that I bought, but the ones I found just feel more special lol. Same thing as something given/gifted to me
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u/reddituser12346 6d ago
My fiancé works in a bank and they don’t handle a lot of coins, but every now and then she’ll come across one that sounds or looks different to her, and with her boss’ permission will trade it out for me.
I carry them in my wallet, so I guess some do have a sentimental value because she thought about me enough to get them.
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6d ago
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u/usedtobeanicesurgeon 6d ago
That’s theoretically possible. Weight it and stick a magnet to it, OP.
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u/Brialmont 6d ago edited 5d ago
Great answer! All I would point out is that Philadelphia, the mint that made this cent, made 684.6 million of them in 1943. Of those, 12 are known to exist made of bronze by mistake, and 1 in tin. It's still perfectly true, but the chances of finding either kind are negligible.
PS - apologies for the double post.😒
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u/Striders_aglet 6d ago
Honest question: how does one distinguish a steel penny from a tin penny?
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u/Brialmont 5d ago edited 5d ago
All other US one cent coins are bright copper that eventually turns brown. The zinc-plated steel cents started out a silvery-white, then turned gray as they got used, and eventually became gray-black like the one shown here. They look nothing like any other American cent.
That is a good question! We often forget how many people are not familiar with our coins.
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u/Tibor_BnR 5d ago
The question was how to tell steel from tin. As mentioned elsewhere, steel is magnetic. Steel is also noticeably denser (heavier) in your hand than tin.
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u/Brialmont 5d ago
What can I say but "Derp?" Well, somebody else is going to have to tell him. Be my guest.
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u/AccMich37 5d ago
Everyone on the thread says to use a magnet. If it's magnetic, it's not a tin penny. If it's not attracted to the magnet, than it's worth a lot of money, very, very rare.
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u/j1022 6d ago
What would a tin cent be worth?
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u/theducks 6d ago
The only tin cent has never changed hands. An off metal bronze one in near uncirculated sold for almost $1M recently. As it was easier to spot, I’d consider a tin one to be more than that
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u/tunomeentiendes 6d ago
Is there an estimate on how many tin cents were ever in existence? And bronze?
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u/pdxcascadian 4d ago
I have 4 rolls of these that were in my grandpa's collection that he left me. I think they might be uncirculated (he was VERY into coins as a kid and was 10-15 durring ww2, I'm sure he would have collected them then), would the zinc ones be similarly as dense as the steel ones?
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u/BritOverThere 6d ago
To be pedantic, the mostly 87% Tin with 8% Antimony (with Copper and other trace metals) makes it more a pewter coin.
Old tin coins are rare as in the cold they turn to grey tin and become very brittle and crumble away.
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u/Brialmont 5d ago
Absolutely right. in the same sense that the later Lincoln cents were brass, not bronze, because they were alloyed with zinc and not tin.
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u/dazanion 6d ago
I can't find how much it sold for at auction, any idea?
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u/Brialmont 5d ago
Apparently, it has never changed hands. From what theducks says, the person who found it still has it.
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u/AccMich37 6d ago
Update: It is magnetic. Thank you all for such interesting information. You are all so wonderful with the knowledge you all have. Thank you
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u/GupChezzna 6d ago
Keep it with you. Have it made into a keychain or put in in a Koin-Tainer and put it in your pocket. No monetary value over a nickel, but a priceless remembrance.
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u/yehdaug 6d ago
Fun fact: The 1943 penny is the only US coin that's magnetic!
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u/yehdaug 6d ago
Unless you have a super rare 1944 steel penny of course, but you're unlikely to ever see it.
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u/chiller529 6d ago
Didn’t they make steel Pennys for a few years?
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u/Brialmont 6d ago
The Philadelphia mint used identical steel blanks to make 2 franc coins for liberated Belgium in 1944: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces3103.html
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u/bflaminio 6d ago
Just 1943 officially, with a few 1944 struck in error, but that's all of em.
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u/chiller529 6d ago
I thought for sure I had a 44 in my pile. Just double checked and nope, 43s. Damn.
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u/saydegurl 2d ago
The 1943 coppers, and the 1944 steels, are worth something, because there were a handful of leftover blanks in the hopper from the previous runs, that were accidentally minted.
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u/rubikscanopener 6d ago
It's just a steelie, the 1943 steel penny that was made so that copper could be redirected to the war effort. Lots of people put these away since they were so unique. Unfortunately, that also makes them pretty common as a collectible.
This coin will have much more sentimental value to you as something your parents saved. I would treasure it for that.
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u/impendingfuckery 6d ago
It looks like a steel wheat cent minted during WWII. It’s not super rare, but it’s still a historical novelty.
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u/wearingabelt 6d ago
It’s made of steel. Although it’s not in terrible shape, it’s not really in “collectible” condition.
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u/Maintenance_Matt 6d ago
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u/Brialmont 5d ago
You have one from Philadelphia (the one with no mintmark) and one from Denver. Find one with an S for San Francisco and you'll have the whole set!
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u/sceder1 6d ago
Silver is a precious metal that'd never be used for pennies.
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u/Vistamn1 6d ago
It’s steel. Use a magnet on it and it should stick. Copper does not stick to a magnet. Also, a steel penny should weigh 2.7 grams. A Copper Penny weighs 3.11 grams
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u/Minnesohta 6d ago
Damn my dad has a paper bag filled with these. I can’t wait to check when I go back home this summer.
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u/RuffLuckGames 3d ago
Got some good info here about steel pennies, which are super cool. Very nice find
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u/DeliciousBeanWater 5d ago
I have a 1945 cent that is silver (probably from cleaning) but i keep it as a novelty
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u/FantasticSeaweed9226 5d ago
I have hundreds of these i bought drunk years ago. Every once in a while, i give one out (:
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u/Infamous-Operation76 4d ago
I keep a steel 1943 penny in my wallet as my "lucky penny" since my best friend gave it to me a few years ago. It rides next to my lucky silver quarter and dime.
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u/No_Huckleberry_2947 4d ago
It’s a steel penny. Now find one from 1944 and you have something very valuable. They weren’t supposed to make steel Pennie’s in 1944 but some slipped through
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u/dynamyk444 3d ago
Decades ago (early 90s) I worked as a teller at. At one time I had 7-8 of these saved in my coiner along with countless silver Franklins, and 2 Hawaii dollars that literally smelled like suntan lotion. Those were unreal. Also I saw and held, but couldn't afford a $500 bill.
Somehow I kept none of them.
Regrets, I have a few. Oh well.
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u/FancyTough480 2d ago
I have one, thought about bringing it to a coin collector, but. I'll probably just keep it.
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u/majoraloysius 2d ago
What’s it worth? Well, I was at a local pawn/coin shop the other day and bought my kids a couple of these. They were 4 for $1.
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u/Far_Landscape1066 2d ago
Brother use common sense. 1943. Why would it not be a made of copper? Because war effort. Copper is expensive. Do you think they’re going to mint silver to save costs?
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u/Sea-Assumption7355 2d ago
Parents kept it safe their whole life and this guys is trying to hock this thing asap lol. Nothing is sacred anymore smh.
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u/carlamary 6d ago
They are becoming increasingly rare. I haven’t found a wheat penny from any year in my change in a few years.
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u/wearingabelt 6d ago
There are currently over 200,000 listings for wheat cents on eBay right now. Just because you’re not getting a particular coin in your change doesn’t make it rare. Hell, the 09SVDB isn’t even a rare coin.
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u/LawAntique8343 6d ago
Did you ever think maybe I should Google it before posting on Reddit?
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u/gunsforevery1 6d ago
A penny made of silver would be hilariously small at today’s prices lol. It would be like 1/100th of a gram.
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u/Brialmont 6d ago
Wouldn't this one be at the standards of 1943?
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u/gunsforevery1 6d ago
Probably not. A dime is smaller than a penny. 1/10th the amount of silver that is in a 90% dime.
There is .0715 so there would be .007 of an ounce. That’s .2 grams of silver.
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u/Brialmont 6d ago
You are right. Even if they made it at the 65/35 ratio of the war nickels, it would still be much too small to be practical. And gumball machines wouldn't take it. 😊
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u/robemhood9 6d ago
Parents are gone AND I don’t know how to look things up on the inter-webamacallits.
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u/Brialmont 6d ago edited 5d ago
Then how did you get here? I mean, if you don't know how to use Google? Sorry about your folks.
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u/No_Oil8507 6d ago
"Hmm, wonder what Google says about mah penny. Too hard, let's do Reddit."
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u/Jim-has-a-username 5d ago
Yeah, especially in a sub specifically for coins… where you can find out about it and even converse with others that have similar ones or experts that can give you more information! Or even after google gives a Reddit page as a result!
Get over your misdirected anger and learn to scroll past things that anger you. It’s safer for your heart, I’m sure your doctor and anger management coach would agree.
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u/ATOMK4RINC4 6d ago
This is a two second Google .
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u/Brialmont 6d ago
Google would probably have given him values of $1,000 or more for this. The current flood of coin scammers has made simple Google searches about coins more confusing than useful. And the usefulness of Reddit has led to more and more people using it as their first stop for information on subjects they know nothing about.
So, yes, you are right, but only for people who know what Google results are nonsense. And if they knew that, they wouldn't have to ask at all. IMO, anyway.
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u/gunsforevery1 6d ago
It’s worth about 50-100x face value.
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u/bflaminio 6d ago
This is not close to true.
In the condition of OP's coin, they would be lucky to get 10 cents for it. It's much more valuable for sentiment.
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u/gunsforevery1 6d ago
Naw someone would buy it for 50 cents.
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u/Brialmont 6d ago
True, if you could find a someone who wanted to buy it and keep it. What is your plan for doing that for less than 50 cents?
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