My grandfather was a coin and stamp collector but never had anything authenticated. He did it purely for the hobby. I was given a box of his belongings after his passing and inside was a small ziploc bag with around 50 pennies. I thought it was a little odd but then I noticed that the date on every penny is 1943. There were a couple random coins in there as well but most are 1943 pennies. Any significance?
People saved 1943 cents because they were made of zinc-plated steel. What they are worth depends on what condition they are in (BTW, don't try to clean, shine, or polish them up!). If they're just a group in a Ziploc bag, they're probably not worth much.
That's what I figured but my husband is adamant that we need to have them appraised. This nickel was in there as well and for some reason I'm particularly attached to it. I think it's beautiful. There is also some kind of coin from Russia that isn't in production anymore.
First, welcome to the neighborhood, Kandis! The steel cent was necessary because the US needed copper for the war effort. There were more than one billion of them produced and most of them probably still exist today. Chris
You can always self appraise them by going to eBay and checking past closed auctions. Those are nice to have but I have to be honest... the condition is poor and that will hurt any value they may have immensely.
