Can you please post full pictures. Obverse and Reverse. Have you tried the magnet test? Does it stick to a magnet?
Still learning Paddy man sorry about no reverse and I posted the photo without clicking on full image...I used the magnet and the coin jumped to it like a mouse to a block of cheese. I then went and drank two cans of root beer.
Sorry I did no take a photo of the reverse not good at this yet...but it is a steel and I expect my father in-law is having a good laugh looking down on me....he was a joker.
That means it's copper plated steel. Your coin is damaged and has no value over face. PS. I can see the steel where the copper plating has worn away.
This ad from 1962 Numismatic Scrapbook magazine shows why these are so common, especially if inherited or found. Jim
Thanks Rick..now that I have a plugable microscope I can see the steel. But at the time I found the coin in the thousands of wheat cents I was left by my father in-law I was using a magnifying glass and missed the obvious signs of the steel...felt a little foolish after that.
I think the steel weighs in between copper and zinc. 2.7grams. Plating is not heavy. A digital scale is inexpensive and very useful. And of course the magnet test. There are millions more plated 43's and altered 43's than actual coins, it's OK to be skeptical until every test has been exhausted.
O Boy Jim thanks for the post...but I have already gotten my 1943 copper cent and I can tell you it was exciting. Just like opening your door and finding Publishers Clearing House was looking for my neighbor, with a ten million dollar check in hand.
