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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Pete Apple, post: 24824743, member: 103982&quot;]Steel cent = 2.689 ± 0.1944 grams (early 1943) OR 2.754 ± 0.2268 grams (late 1943) Diameter: 19.05 mm (± 0.0508 mm)</p><p><br /></p><p>Zinc Cent = 2.500g ± 0.100g (Mid 1982 and after)</p><p><br /></p><p>Thickness: 1.52 mm (-0.102 mm/+0.152 mm)</p><p><br /></p><p>Diameter: 19.05 mm (± 0.1016 mm)</p><p><br /></p><p>[Note: The diameter tolerance beginning with the 1944 cent is ± 0.0508 mm according to a Directive from D.W. Bell, Acting Secretary of the Treasury, Federal Register. The source for ± 0.1016 is the US Mint. The difference is a factor of 2, so the smaller tolerance is likely measured from the midline of the coin and the larger is likely the total diameter.]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Cheap steel for 1943 cents was coated with zinc by several processes, depending on which company was supplying planchets. Although the Mint specified thickness of zinc at 0.0005” (0.127 mm), the reality was that no one much cared. Steel strip was electroplated, hot dipped, hot rolled, heated and sprayed with molten zinc then rolled and just about any other inexpensive process available. This inconsistency was also why the weight of 1943 cents was increased by 1-grain (0.0648 g). This allowed extreme over- and under-weight planchets to be accepted as legal coins. --- Roger Burdette</p><p><br /></p><p>(I did not get into a lot of detail in the book because production cents was not part of the core subject.)</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>*0.0005 Ref Page 69, ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE MINT FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED JUNE 30 1945 INCLUDING REPORT ON THE PRODUCTION OF THE PRECIOUS METALS FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 1944[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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