1943 steel pulled from a roll - original clad or reprocessed?

I'm differentiating from electroplating, if that clarifies better. Most of these bad boys are electroplated. Dipping, it's whatever does the job, really, depending on what the coin's issues are.

 

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Here is a video on how to electroplate with zinc (silver color) and even to "gold" cent ( brass). Jim

 

Looking good Jim, lucky you! Thanks for posting good pic's too. Good luck

 

I found a 1943 Steelie in a Coin Star machine last week.

 

just found one this weekend penny hunting in 3 rolls i got

 

It doesn't look reprocessed to me. May be It's one of the ones I put back in circulation. Over the years I've put around 100 back in circulation hoping some kid gets one and gets the collecting bug. These were still very common into the 1960's. These are a low value coin. If not an uncirculated coin the value is very low. I know a local dealer told me he has a bucket with about 5,000 of them in it. They tended to corrode easily. Similar to the current cents that are copper plated zinc. I read somewhere that after WW 2 the treasury pulled them out of circulation and dumped millions in the Atlantic ocean. I don't know if it's true but, they dumped a lot of equipment from WW 2 in the ocean to get rid of it. What a way to wreck the environment.

 

I have sold a lot of reprocessed steel cents over the years, and as far as I know, they were all real.

 

duly noted. Corrected the title.

From your experience, does this look like an original clad or a reprocessed coin?

 

I like your youtube choice Jim. This one was interesting too - fun with zincolns!

 

To me the word "reprocessed" is odd. I've only heard about plated in regards to steel cents. Dipping a steel cent doesn't have the same effect as say dipping silver...because steel rusts and dipping doesn't remove rust.

It was pretty popular in the early 50's for kids to take a little mercury and rub a copper penny or a steel one with the liquid mercury to make it "shiny" and white. And some might have remnants of this. Occasionally led was used too.

It was more popular at some point to re-plate the pennies often with zinc via electroplating. Easy to do and not so bright that it's suspicious on the steel cents immediately. Electroplating them with steel is a more tedious process that involves priming the pennies first so usually they were not re-plated with steel.

That edge is the dead giveaway...the mint only steel plated (cladded, if that's a word lol) the faces of the coin and so the edge typically has a slightly different color with sometimes nearly invisible seams where the plating completes. The edge often has a touch of rust or gun metal color that doesn't quite match the faces. When they are re-plated the edge is exactly as shiny as the faces and there are no apparent seams.

Without studying particularly the edge, the electroplated coins can be REALLY convincing! Especially if you haven't dealt with quite a few original not re-plated steel cents from poor and ok condition all the way up to spectacular conditions...

 

So, as I understand it the edge of my coin is too shiny.

Does anybody happen to have a closeup photo of an edge of a non-replated/non-reprocessed penny that I can compare against? That might be more helpful...

 

Maybe tomorrow I'll take a couple photos of the edges of re-plated and not re-plated...but yes... the edge of an all original steely can be quite shiny! From even wear and just not having any or very little deterioration or rust.
Usually though if it's been plated it seems as if there is no seam or no color change whatsoever from the clad steel face to the center of the rim.

 

I appreciate it. Thanks Kurisu!

 

I remember getting them as a prize in gumball machines MANY MANY years ago. Not bad for a quarter. It may have been a dime back then, though.

 

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but came across a steel cent in another wheat roll I was searching that seemed odd until I thought about it for a bit. If I'm not mistaken (possible) this looks like a replating that has failed over time. I'm seeing grey underneath and shiny above. Not to mention that the mint mark is pretty much a blob at this point, I presume from an overzealous application.

Things that make you go hmm.

 

I would agree to peeling replated.

 

Your coin is original. They are still out there. How do I know? Because I've been releasing some of the thousands I inherited from my grandfather.

 

Wow. Well then speaking as a possible recipient, thank you very much @Mountain Man. I'll have to check to see if one of these rolls came from the Montana region...

 

I also think your coin shows original surface. Note the 3 roller line running from
about 3 o'clock to about 8 o'clock . There is also some at the top of your coin that run in the same direction. Replating can and will hide such lines.

 

original steel wheat cents were made from a sheet of steel that was galvanized with zinc, and then the blanks punched out, so the edge on originals will not be coated in Zinc and be bare steel.

once they were punched out, you'd need to "reprocess" them by electroplating or some other process, but the zinc will be on the edge of the coin also since it's been punched out already.

As far as I can tell, of the surviving steel cents, probably the majority of them have been reprocessed, and a whole lot of the ones that haven't been are corroded to some extent, but with enough effort, a person can still find really nice original examples for a collection without too much of a cost or issue to do it.

Honestly I think this particular one was a home job done with a can of cold galvanizing spray and not electroplated.