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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;johnmilton, post: 24563730, member: 101855&quot;][USER=94733]@Mountain Man[/USER] sent me a PDS set of 1943 steel cents that had been reprocessed. Since I have seen some collectors who are confused by these pieces, I though I might provide some basic facts. </p><p><br /></p><p>In 1943 the U.S. Mint System issued steel cents that were coated with zinc in place of the normal coins in bronze. The reason was that copper was a key wartime material, and the mint was looking for a way to save it for the war effort. </p><p><br /></p><p>The coin was a flop. People confused it with the dime, and the coin soon became unattractive in circulation after the zinc oxidized. I saved a few rolls of these coins from circulation in the early 1960s. Here are three examples. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1556776[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>The piece in the upper left is an example of how these coins looks were the zinc coating oxidized. It is dull and grey. the piece in the upper right is rusted. The coated the coins with zinc to prevent or retard this development. The piece at the bottom is typical of a circulated piece. Steel is hard, and for that reason these coins are seldom seen with a lot of &quot;honest wear.&quot; I would grade this piece VF-30. </p><p><br /></p><p>Here is what a pristine steel cent looks like. This piece is graded MS-66. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1556777[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Here is a steel cent that has been &quot;reprocessed&quot; with a new zinc coating. This coin looks better in person, but my camera sometimes plays tricks with items like this. There are colors on the piece in the photo which really are not there. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1556778[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>To the untrained eye, this coin might look like a Proof. The mint actually considered making the Wartime Cent in Proof for about a nanosecond. If they had, that would have been a hoot! </p><p><br /></p><p>As you might see, the reprocessed coins are too bright when you compare them with the real thing. </p><p><br /></p><p>Finally I will show you this, a web that was left after the wartime cent planchets were punched out of the metal strips. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1556779[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>These relicts cropped up at coin shows in New England in the 1980s. Perhaps they were rescued from some scrap metal dealer who got them. I have not seen any offered for a number of years, although some must be out there for sale somewhere.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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