TRIVIA: Steel Coins

You know the U.S. struck Zinc Coated Steel cents in 1943 because copper was needed for our World War II effort, but do you know there were other zinc Coated Steel coins minted by other countries during World War II?

Do you know one of those "other" coins was struck by the U.S. Mint by mistake?

During the Allied Occupation of Belgium, the U.S. Mint struck 2 Francs coins for Belgium dated 1944. The first of this issue were struck on 1943 U.S. Cent blanks. During 1944 The U.S. Mint agreed to strike a smaller coin (25 cents) for The Netherlands.

As the saying goes, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray," a number of Belgium 2 Francs were struck on those Netherlands 25 cents blanks.

You know what the 1943 U.S.A. One Cent coins look like, but may have never seen a Belgium 1944 2 Francs zinc Coated Steel coin. Here's a look courtesy of Don's World Coin Gallery:

http://worldcoingallery.com/countries/coine.php?image=img7/18-133&desc=Belgium%20km133%202%20Francs%20(1944)%20U.S.%20steel%20cent%20planchet&query=Belgium%20km%20133


Thought you'd like to know,

Clinker

 

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Thanks for sharing. Great trivia.

 

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To coinman0456:

Thqnk YOU for reading and commenting!:hug:

Clinker

 

To commidaddy:

A big T h a n k s to you for commenting, reading AND...for nominating as "Post of the Week...:high5:

Clinker

 

Clinker
Fascinating.....First thing I did was to check the miscellaneous coins my father brought back with him after service in WW II. It's great to have some history behind these coins. Nice Work! :thumb:
Here are the two I have:

 

Another great Clinker trivia! Thank you.

 

Wow Thanks. I actually had one about six months ago but I gave it to a great friend of mine that admired it.

 

Very interesting, Thanks for the info Clinker!

 

Great trivia, Thanks Clinker!!!

 

To PennyGuy:

Thanks for reading, commenting and sharing the photos...AND the nomination...

Clinker

 

To:
TheNoost...
byrd740...
raider34...
CamaroDMD...

Thanks for reading, comment and a special "THANKS" for nominating this Trivia as Post of the Week...

Clinker

 

Thanks for that info. Having about 30 to 40 rolls of those 43 cents (pennies) I always read any posts about them. Ever notice how people Chome, Tin, Zinc, Copper and even Silver plate them? So far I've never seen a Gold plated one.

 

Nice post! I never knew that!

 

The only correction I see with the original post is that the Steel Cents replace the copper for the war effort, not Nickel. Nickels were replaced by the silver nickels of the war era with the larger mint mark over the Monticello.

 

Nice catch there. Probably everyone missed that. I sure did.
So now we need someone to post what the Copper was needed for since it was only needed for one year. Same for what did they do with the Nickel?
Naturally most know the ammo shell casing were made of the Copper but what did they do with the Nickel? Or was the shell casings made with both to make a Brass case? HHHMMMMM.

 

Could it be that nickel was used in the production of rifles and small arms?


Great post Clinker....:smile

 

Nickels are made of 75% Copper, 25% Nickel. So to ammo they did go. Later casings were reused for copper Cents till 1947. Re-cycling goes back that far.

 

coop

A slip of the mind (73 years old w/stroke)....so glad you pointed that out...thanks...

Clinker

 

To green18

Thanks for another positive comment

Clinker