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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;CoinCollector76, post: 4088024, member: 110230&quot;]In 1943 the first steel pennies were released into circulation. The U.S army needed copper to make supplies for the war effort so the mint started experimenting different type of metals that could be used on the cent. They ended up choosing steel plated zinc composition, the mint decided to use this composition for 3 years. When the new cents were placed in circulation, people began to hoard them and they claimed that it looks like a dime (like the problem with the SBA dollar in 1979). Eventually the mint decided to use its former 95% copper composition in 1944 which made 1943 the only steel cents minted. A total of <b>1,093,838,670 </b>steel pennies were minted from all three mints. Beginning in 1945 the mint quietly reclaimed as much steel cents as possible and reclaimed 163 million or about 14.9% of all steel cents in circulation in 20 years and were melted down.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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