| Is my 1943 Copper Cent real?
In 1943 the country was fighting World War II and copper supplies were needed to make cartridge casings for the war effort.
The steel pennies of 1943 were called silver cents because of their silver grey color. These cents range in color from grey to black because the zinc coating tended to wear off quickly leaving the steel vulnerable to corrosion.
Were any 1943 pennies made of copper? Yes! Approximately two dozen were made, due to an accident at the mints.
They missed some blanks leftover from 1942, because 1943 copper cents were later found in circulation. None are known in mint condition.
Genuine 1943 copper cents are rare and hard to find, and they can be quite valuable. When offered for sale at an auction, they have sold from $10,000 to over $100,000.
Beware of fakes! The 1943 copper cents are so rare they are a popular target of counterfeiters and other scam artists. Favorite methods of faking the 1943 copper cent include:
Copper plating a 1943 steel cent.
Altering the date of a Lincoln cent of another year to make it look like the last digit is a "3" -1948 is a common choice.
Casting a coin from scratch -very crude and easy to tell, coins are struck not cast.
Creating a die from a genuine 1943 steel cent and striking a copper coin with it.
If you think you have a 1943 copper cent, how can you tell if it is genuine?
Steel cents weigh 2.7 grams, copper cents weigh 3.11 grams.
Steel cents are attracted to a magnet, copper cents aren't.
Compare the digits on a 1943 steel cent with your coin. The shape of the digits should be the same and there should not be tooling marks where empty space would be on the"3".
If your cent passes ALL of the above tests then it is time to get the coin certified by one of the grading services such as NGC or PCGS.
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