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Currently, pennies are 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper, and at current prices of those metals, each new penny has a theoretical "melt value" -- what you'd get if you melted down pennies and sold the ...
In 1943, the U.S. switched to zinc-coated steel to help save copper during World War II. More than one billion 1943 steel cents were struck, ... 1944-D Lincoln Penny on a Zinc-Coated Steel Planchet.
The unique composition of the coin (low-grade steel coated with zinc, instead of the previously 95%-copper-based bronze composition) has led to various nicknames, such as wartime cent, steel war penny, zinc cent and steelie. The 1943 steel cent features the same Victor David Brenner design for the Lincoln cent which had been in use since 1909.
Jitalia17/istockphotoSome of the rarest and most valuable coins in U.S. history owe their worth to minting errors that slipped through unnoticed. Coins like the 1943 Copper Penny, struck in copper ...
The penny, also known as the cent, is a coin in the United States representing one-hundredth of a dollar.It has been the lowest face-value physical unit of U.S. currency since the abolition of the half-cent in 1857 (the abstract mill, which has never been minted, equal to a tenth of a cent, continues to see limited use in the fields of taxation and finance).
Originally struck in 95% copper, the cent coin was changed for one year to zinc-coated steel in 1943 as copper was needed to aid in the war effort. The mint then reverted to 95% copper until 1982, when inflation made copper too expensive and the composition was changed to zinc with an outer copper layer.
Made of 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc alloy, it sold for $1.7 million in 2010 but is valued at $2.3 million in mint uncirculated condition. More recently, it went for $840,000 at an auction.
Likewise in the Lincoln cent series, the composition change in 1943 to steel and the composition change in 1982 from bronze to copper-plated zinc are considered separate types by almost all, but the brass composition used in 1944-1946 is not considered a separate type from the 1947 return to bronze.