i run the register at a conveince store and saw this penny its didnt sound like a penny when i dropped it in the register. it looks like a penny with steel or something mixed into it i dont no if its a error or just rare or not at all. Also where the bronze is cut off and its silver you can see some of the letters that were cut off on the silver. Front also has a ring of steel or silver or what ever it is. my pictures are not super clear because my digital camera is old. But i just want to know if its worth anything
winy, Welcome to Coin Talk! It is really hard to tell anything from the pictures. However, I suspect that you have a 1982 or later, Copper plated Zinc Cent. There appears to be damage to the Copper plating which has exposed some of the Zinc inner core. Frank
winy925 to the forum. And yes your coin is worth 1 cent. The best I can see is that the plating has been removed from it to expose the zinc base metal.
Steel/Copper Wheat penny I was was wondering. Does anyone know any thing about old steel pennies that are steel and copper mix. Have not be able to find much in for on this subject. I've only came across a few but they are the old steel zinc pennies, but there are copper swirls all through out the coin. One story I've been told is that the melting pots in WWII were never cleaned when they poured the steel to make the sheets that would eventually be made in to the blank coins before they were stamped by the mint. Sort of weird right! Seeing how there was a copper shortage. That or some one just got lazy. Well any way thats about as far as I've got on research. Any thoughts. Gimpy
Hi, 1943 cents were normally made of a steel core, plated with zinc. (There was no copper involved in the normal production) What you are seeing as swirls is probably rust on the steel. Pictures or a scan would help though Thanks, Bill
Hey Bill. Thanks for the post. Just got married so most of my stuff is buried in boxes in the attic. Imagine that. LOL. I will dig them in out soon and get a photo of them for you. Rust hum... I'll run with that for now.
Picture of 1 odd steel wheat penny Hey Bill, finally found them. This is the best picture I could get at this point. I did see some rust on some of them like you mentioned, but on especially this one I'm not really convinced yet. Its not rust, but it sort of has a copper look to it. Maybe someone did something to them cause I've I have also found a Nickel with what looks to be a copper splotch on it as well.
I have a few around here that are like that. My dad was a lithographer and there was a chemical that he used when he worked with old copper plates that if a stell cent was dipped into it, it would deposit a layer of copper on the steel. I think the one you showed is one that has been tampered with in a similar way. Congratulations on your recent wedding! have Fun, Bill
Thank you for the information. Now I'm on the search for the name of the chemical process they used and what process the the printers were using on the press plates. I'd be thankful for any info. Guess some one was wanting make a fake copper 43.
Dip steel into a coppersulfate solution and the copper will plate out onto the steel. I don't know if it would onto the zinc though so you may have to do a acid bath to strip the zinc off first . We can get rid of that story. The mint back then had its own foundry and created its own copper alloy ingots , strip and blanks. But for the steel cents the steel strip was produced and galvanized by an outside contractor and then delivered to the mint for blanking. So the steel never got into the mints crucibles.
Copper sulfate? cool. So I have a odd nickel too. Guess this would fall under the same category. Well thank you for all of your input on this and the history. Now its time to dig through the rest. Found several older pennies in my collection. Could be fun. Happy hunting.
