1943 cents

There have been several postings about 1943 zinc clad cents and in one of them someone mentioned that since the blanks were punched from zinc clad plates of steel or iron, the edges would not be zinc...kind of like the clad coinage we have today for dimes, quarters and halves. Anyone have a picture of the edge of one of these that shows the cladding?

 

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Interesting. Would you be able to tell the difference between the zinc and the steel?

 

Excellent question...that's what I would like to know.

 

It's plated not clad. Too thin to see in an image.

 

1943 steel cents were not clad, they were zinc plated, although I don't know at what step the planchets were plated. The edges are plated to the same degree as the surfaces.

 

Can't show the you the edge but this is the strip. The edges were not plated.

 

No

 

Here's what Wikipedia says about the coating/plating/cladding:

Production of the war-time cent was provided for in an Act of Congress approved on December 18, 1942, which also set as the expiration date of the authority December 31, 1946. Low-grade carbon steel formed the base of these coins, to which a zinc coating 0.0005-inch (0.013 mm) thick was deposited on each side electrolytically as a rust preventive. This coating was applied to the steel before the blanks were made, leaving the rims of these coins extremely susceptible to rust. The same size was maintained, but the weight was reduced from the standard 48 grains (3.1 g) to 42 grains (2.7 g), by using a lighter alloy. Production commenced on February 27, 1943, and by December 31 of that year, the three Mint facilities had produced 1,093,838,670 of the one-cent coins. The copper released for the war effort was enough to meet the combined needs of two cruisers, two destroyers, 1,243 Flying Fortresses, 120 field guns and 120 howitzers, or enough for 1,250,000 shells for large field guns.[

 

I stand properly informed, thanks, bare steel on the edges.

 

Not meaning to be smarty, I didn't know either.

 

OK, how thick is the cladding on clad coinage?

 

It's different depending on the coin type.

 

Learned something new myself. No wonder they started to rust so quickly.

 

OK, we got three choices, dime, quarter and half. What is any one of these? I looked for awhile but couldn't find it, so I thought I would ask here.

 

This is a math question for @Conder101 It would take me a week to figure it out.

 

Honestly doesn't seem like it should be, but a casual search doesn't reveal it to me. While we are at it, how thick is the coating on a post 1982 cent and how is it applied? (How many licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop)

 

It is electroplated 20 microns thick.

 

So, let's see, 0.013 mm for the zinc plating is 13 microns (micrometers), so the penny has a thicker coating than the 1943 zinc cent has as a plating. I think I saw somewhere the cent zinc blanks were electroplated with a process called barrel plating?

 

Well that sure didn't work! Another wonderful Govt idea!!

 

LOL. Three!!! Everyone knows that! Silly question.