Blank steel penny

This is really cool I got it at an antique mall here is a photo of it on a magnet

 

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I don't think it is a 1943 blank planchet. While it has what might look like an upset rim on one side, it doesn't have an upset rim on the other side. I don't think this can happen in the upsetting mill because both edges are formed at the same time.

Chris

 

Electrical box knock-out.

 

I don't know either way, but just playing devils advocate if it were a steel blank, freshly punched out of the blanking press, wouldn't it have this appearence? @SorenCoins what does it weigh? Should weigh 2.7 grams.

 

And you should be able to see the zinc and steel layers on the edge.

 

This was my first thought. I work electrical and every time I knock these out I always think they look like blanks. Also the surface looks too porous like the type of metal on this electric box.

 

Beat me to it rick. they are fun to use stamps with tho.

 

My scale is cheap and is for cooking but I use it on coins so it doesn't show a decimal but without the decimal it shows 2 grams

 

I can see the other layers

 

The edge is upturned on one side and rounded on the other, it cannot be a blank planchet. That's not how an upset mill works.

 

If it was a electrical box knockout where the tag from being attached to the junction box? Also, this would be pre upsetting mill, you would have that look to the edge if it had just been punched out in the blanking press, not the upsetting mill.

 

The only problem with that is it's almost impossible to verify a blank if not found in an original mint bag. An unstruck planchet can be verified by the presence of the upset rim. I guess an exact weight and the steel & zinc layers would be the only way to tell.

 

Agreed. I've seen this exact conversation 2 or three times and the electrical box knockout is always tossed out there. My point in playing devils advocate here is that the electrical knockout theory has some problems. First the tag end where it was connected to the box is always visible and somewhat warps the knockout around where it was twisted off the box. Secondly I would bet dollars to donuts that it weighs way more than 2.7 grams and is larger than a cent. I have some steel electrical boxes at home, when I get back I'm going to do a little experiment.

The other thing that could be a possibility here is that its a world coin blank, again making it impossible to determine its origin. But, @SorenCoins says its at least 2 grams on his scale, he says he can see the zinc and steel layers, it's completly plausible that it's a 1943 steel cent blank that didn't make it to the upsetting mill.

 

True phankins11!.. I thought about that after I posted my comment about the electric box tabs. But also just look at the surface of the OP picture. Looks kind of rough not smooth as a true blank would look like. Well that's what I see.

 

I have been searching the web since yesterday for an example of a Blank/Planchet for a 1943 Steel Cent. I have not found one yet. Does anyone have any info if one exists? I'm sure it does but I would like to see the proof.

 

From what I understand, a blank can look like an ordinary piece of round metal with pretty rough surfaces, after all it was just a sheet of metal. While for the cent, the blank is fed into the upsetting mill first, which turns it into a planchet, they all (blanks that don't get a rim and planchets) go through a burnishing mill ( http://www.coinnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Burnishing-Mill-Process.jpg ) which will remove all that uneven roughness and clean and shine those little sucker up. Again the look is consistent with a freshly punched blank which has not made its way through an upsetting mill or the burnishing mill.

LOL me too...I've not been able to find one.

Another potential is that it could just be a slug for testing or hacking a coin operated mechanism. http://scity.com/coin-mechanisms (scroll to the bottom) while pictured here is a dime size slug, its entirely plausible that what the OP found was a cent sized slug used for "testing" the coin operated mechanism.

 

It isn't rough it is just dirty

 

Just thinking of different ways to examine your item.
If you can.. take a normal Cent, any Cent and place it on top of your mystery slug. Take a picture from above to see if they are the same size.
Also side by side to compare the thickness.

 

Same size

 

Only thing left for you to do is take it to a coin shop.. let them tell you what it could be. For me it is not a 1943. But that is my opinion.