1943 D Steel Wheat Penny

I also remember reading someplace that shell casings were not used due to contaminants, but Wexler and Flynn quote from the '44 mint report
" The change was made as a result of the availability of fired brass cartridge cases, to which copper is added to produce the alloy"

and from the '45 Annual report ( Director of the Mint) " The alloy was produced by utilizing fired brass cartridge cases made available by the War Department to which virgin copper was added".

The prior source I remember said that it was good politics for the war efforts to have people think the cent they held in their hands was once fired at the enemy, so they perpetuated the misinformation.

Jim

 

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I remember when Doug said that...but one thing he never addressed was (according to Red Book) there is a different metal composition from 1944-46. So, the metal was from a different source...so where did it come from?

 

What he said

I have rolls of horded Wheats from the '40's.
I am curious about the composition of these coins as many DO seem "different" and I'm hoping this thread will sort it out.

But I think the OP has the truth about under control. The 1943 cent can be quite attractive and is easy to pull out of a pile (WoW~fantastic photos fellows)

Thus the '43's are not hard to find and about everybody that collects cents already has a few.

But who knows what the '44's are make from? DesertGem~you have a machine that can sort this out?

 

Well, according to Red Book...the difference is tin. Cents from 1909-1942 and 1947-1982 are 95% copper 5% tin and zinc...while the cents from 1944-1946 are 95% copper and 5% zinc.

 

Interesting

So we had shifted from "bullets" to canned food production?

Tin cans really were once make with tin.:eat:

 

I had never consider food containers as a possibility.