When I was a kid I never failed to check my copper pennies, hoping to find one minted in 1943.

“A penny found by a Massachusetts teen and which was mistakenly made from copper in 1943 is considered so rare that it is likely to fetch up to $1.7million at auction.

The coin has been described as the ‘most famous’ coin that was made by mistake, according to Heritage Auctions.

In the early 1940s, with the United States at war, pennies were made from steel so that copper could be used for shell casings, telephone wire, and ‘wartime necessities,’ according to Geek.com.

The United States Mint, which produces the coins, apparently missed a few bronze blanks which somehow got into the presses…”

https://mol.im/a/6570829

I have a well used steel version 1943 penny I found in change as a child and still have it.

They also made nickels of silver not nickel around the same time. I got one of those in change as well in the early 1960s.

That penny will buy a lot of chocolate milk at the school cafeteria these days.

I’ve a slew of 1940, 1941, 1942 and 1944 copper wheaties and five or six 1943 steel pennies. I always look at my change hoping for a big payday.

My hobby circa 1956-61 was coins, especially pennies including mint errors. Amazing what general circulation would bring you. No 43 coppers for me though. Still have most of the key & semi key pennies.

I had one of the steel pennies and I thought those had zinc plate. That '43 is a gem. Heard of them all my life but have never seen a picture.

My grandpa collected coins and I am mildly fascinated by rare coins and currency. Early in my banking career I was a teller for several years and routinely pulled real silver dimes and quarters and error currency out of the till for face value and always looked at my change. Best I ever did was get a 1909s VDB penny in my early 20s. Being consistently broke while in college, I sold it on eBay for almost 2,000. Ungraded.
My dad got a $5 gold piece in change from a vending machine once almost exact size as a nickel.

There’s a small community of really, really rich guys that collect coins and if 2 decided to get into a dick measuring contest at auction for a 1 of 20 item to complete a set, this coin could go for a lot of money. At least the mint acknowledges its legal not like the 1933 $20 gold that a few were made and the .gov says all are contraband.

quote:

Originally posted by lbj:
They also made nickels of silver not nickel around the same time. I got one of those in change as well in the early 1960s.

Found one of them in my pocket two weeks ago. Has the mint mark on the back.

The neat coins from back in the day were the 2, 3, and 20 cent coins.

It took a long time for me to find a 1/2 cent that I could afford.

quote:

Originally posted by braillediver:

quote:

found by a teen in his school lunch change in 1947

And the owner died in September; all the money is going to a library he used to frequent before his death.

I did coins as a kid. I still have a collection book(not sure if that's the word) with all the years and pennies in all the slots. They are all there except a 1909 s vdb. I looked at pennies for a long time and never found one. heck I still look.
Coins no longer interest me, but the old books are interesting to look at from another era of my life.

Seems many of us had the same experience. I was born in 1942 and I remember growing up looking for the elusive 1943 copper penny.

I have one of each of the two most faked U.S. pennies, a fake 1943 copper and a fake 1944 steel. One of the ways the '43 was faked was to take a '48 and polish out some of the #8. The '44 steel was faked by coating a regular penny to look steel.

I know I have at least one of the fake copper plated 1943 steel pennies. Among some things my dad gave me are dozens of tubes of common wheat pennies, including one tube that is all steel. I have the blue books that you press the pennies into, missing most of the key dates of course.

quote:

Originally posted by striker1:
I have the blue books that you press the pennies into, missing most of the key dates of course.

So do I and actually know where they are. Have to see how many I'm missing, too.