Are These Real 1943 Steel Cents?

Wow no kidding, I can't figure out what I possibly did to them to make them rust so heavily.

Possibly stored in a bad enviroment - you live by the ocean?

Real deal . Looks like they where salvaged from a U.S. Naval ship that was sunk during WWll (1943) .

No, that's the weird thing, none of my other coins look like this. All of my other coins have stayed in the condition that I bought them in. I bought these in mint condition and every time I pulled them out to look at them they had more of this crusty stuff on them.




Dang, maybe I should sell them on ebay as WWII sunken treasure!




That seems the most plausible explanation. But what purpose would the plating be stripped off for?

So what do I do with these buggers? Toss them? I'm afraid to mix them in with any of my coins - they might be contagious!

I've attached an image of my other 1943's. These are not rusted in the same manner, the rust isn't crusty and raised. I stored these separately from the others (because the others were mint condition when I bought them.) They were stored in separate containers, but always in the same room and in the same box.



AC

Your hand caused that...moisturize

Nothing to lose !

Remember that lemon juice is a mild acid (caustic) and will dissolve the metal as well as the rust.
Look at the edges of your circulated coins. You will probably see narrow streaks of rust. That is a diagnostic of an original coin that has not been messed with (replated). Like Bobby131313 said in #5, sheets were plated before getting cut out so there will be NO zinc on the edges. Being unprotected they are prone to light rusting.

My guess is that the coins were replated over existing rust. If they were real shiny when you got them, that is a good indication.

And the reason people will intentionally damage a coin like this is for the $. No one buys a worn steel cent when they can buy a "new" shiny one. (Most of us have fallen for this, by the way.) But as a collector these are considered damaged coins, just like recoloring or modifying a coin after it is struck (PSD- POST Strike Damage).

Ok so I have put them in a mixture of lemon juice and distilled water the past 5 nights. I noticed results after maybe the 3rd night, but since then they've stayed the same. The first two nights I tried lemon juice squeezed from a lemon and the last few I tried lemon juice from the container; I'm not sure if there's a difference.




I don't see any narrow streaks of rust. I guess they were replated after all.




Now there's a thought! I can at least get my 3 cents worth out of them :)