How can one tell if their 1943 steel cent has been reprocessed or re coated with zinc? I just bought 2 of them for a low price from an online store but before I buy more products from them, I wanted to make sure that I didnt get ripped off. (even though I didnt pay much for these cents)
I recently talked to a dealer about this and he said that it should not be shinny but have more of a nice matte finish to it. I imagine that if it was recoated that you would loose some detail especially in the wheat. The ones in your pic look to me to be in original condition. But being as I am newer to this hobby, I'll let someone else make the official call.
Also if there seems to be pits and/or bubbles on the coin's surface. They're caused by places where the original zinc plating was breached and the steel began to rust.
Yours look well enough to tilt around in your hand and see if you see a "cartwheel" effect. Reprocessing covers the flow lines which produce this effect, so one that has little circulation can be detected by this. Yours look original from what I can tell. Jim
one of the easier ways to tell if a coin has been reprocessed is to look at its edge. The original coins were only zinc coated on the obverse and reverse surfaces, and not the edge. Because of this, often the edges will have rusted, but even on corrosion-free coins the edges will be a noticably different color.
It's a nice looking coin. There is an obvious finger print on the reverse and possible rub on the cheek which would make it an AU 58. Can't tell on the rub though. Attractive coin worth about $3-6 dollar depending on the grade.
