This freaks me out cause I am a noob. I was looking through my 40's wheats to find a 1943 penny to give to a friend on her birthday and I noticed that all my 43's had a silvery tint to them. not copper like the others. they are magnetic. Does this give them added value and is this the only year for steel wheats?
A quick Google search tells me that all 1943 pennies were made of zinc plated steel and it was the only year for the steel pennies.
I want to share this webpage with you - http://cointrackers.com/coins/13590/1943-steel-wheat-penny/ Millions were minted. Circulated Steel Cents are worth face value.
Steel pennies are pretty interesting coins, although not worth much over face value. However, if you find a steel cent dated 1944, then you have something special. The same goes for a copper cent dated 1943.
I am a novice coin collector and recently bought a roll of pennies containing some steel pennies. One of the steel pennies has half the date missing. It only has a 19 on it. I put it under every magnifier i have and there is no shadowing of any numbers following the 19. I have read that it was sometimes common for one of the numbers to be missing. my question is is common for two numbers to be missing?