1944 Steel Penny?

Very cool story .. and I am cheering for you.

First thing I would suggest is to not get excited, until
you find out for sure what it is .. and what grade it is.

Some of my thoughts

- This coin was in a sort of bezel, and it looks like it
was coated with something. Both of these are a negative
as to what grade it might get.

- There are some people throwing out some big numbers.
What I see is the Coin World article that Teach posted
In that article it mentioned some AU examples selling
for 23K and 37K ... both very good numbers but not 100K

- If I had this coin, I would make a call to NGC, PCGS or
ANACS. By talking to them directly, from them you should
be able to get the correct way that this coin should be
sent in. By this I mean what postal service, insurance
and grading tier to use.

- I would also want to talk to them about the restoration
of this coin. If possible I would like to have that done
before it was slabbed/graded.

- I think there is a NGC facility in Florida, where you
could take the coin to them. I think it might be near
Tampa.

After all that .. and if it comes back real. Then you will have to decide the best way to sell it, if you are going to sell. A couple choices would be auction or a high end dealer. Check with a few, to maybe figure out which would get you the most money.

of course all this is just my opinion

Yes, the NGC headquarters are in Sarasota, Florida. I'm not sure if you could bring anything in to them. You may have to get a registered dealer to take you there with the penny.

to out little forum.

I think I waited long enough for others to voice their opinion on this piece before posting my opinion.


First, I have my doubts on this being a 1944 Cent struck on a 1943 Steel planchet as I remember back in the 1960's it was common for costume jewelry to contain plated Cents, mostly on bracelets (I have had a few in the past).

Second, and most important, Genuine 1944 Lincoln Cents struck on Steel Planchets from 1943 are extremely rare if struck at both Denver and San Francisco Mints as 1943 was the only year Steel Planchets were in production at both Mints and any 1944 dated Steel Cents could only have been struck on leftover Steel planchets that were most likely stuck in transport bins, then released with the 1944 planchets on the production line.

Philadelphia, is another story. While I'm sure a few (at most) 1944 Steel Cents could have been struck on genuine left-over planchets from 1943, I believe most Philadelphia struck 1944 Lincoln Steel Cents are actually "Struck on Foreign Planchet" errors.

While it is impossible to confirm a 1944 Steel Cent was struck on a leftover 1943 planchet or a foreign planchet, it is public knowledge that the Philadelphia Mint struck coins for Belgium in 1944. The planchet used for the 1944 Belgium 2 Frank denomination was the SAME Steel planchet used to strike the 1943 USA Steel Cents.

Krause lists the total mintage of the Belgium (KM#133) 2 Frank steel coins at 25 million pieces.

With 25 million Steel Planchets on the Philadelphia Mint production floor in 1944, odds are any Lincoln Cents struck in Steel were from the Belgium Blanks, and since both the 1943 Lincoln Cent and 1944 Belgium 2 Franks used the same type planchets, I think the rare find would be a Belgium 1944 2 Frank that was struck on a 1944 Bronze (USA) planchet.

With the information posted here, would you still pay a 5-figure price for this piece?

This was my 3rd CCF reply on the 1944 Steel Cent.
I was waiting to see if anyone that read my past posts would have posted this information.

The bottom line is that you have to know how rare a rare coin is, and believe me, I have made some poor choices by not knowing how rare something is, and overpaid dearly by not knowing.


1,000 posts

Registered would cost $50 for 25K insurance. You could declare a higher value, but the maximum amount the post office would pay out in the case of a loss would be 25K. The extra you pay goes for "extra security" which is nonsense. On the other hand Registered mail is the safest way to ship something. Registered mail getting lost or stolen is practically unheard of. If ou want to go with more than 25K insurance you need to go with a private insurer. And even then send it registered because it GREATLY lowers the insurance rates from the private insurer. (They know registered mail is safe too.) The one down side to registered mail is that it is slow. Two weeks for delivery is not unusual and it can easily take a month or more. It used to be that the Post office wouldn't even allow you to file a claim until at least a month had passed.

Soooo, with the Belgum coin planchet a possibility, are we saying:

1. There is absolutely no way to tell one from the other.
2. Known examples that are being touted as 1944 on 1943 planchets are being misrepresented.
3. People are overpaying for a "cool" error, but not as "cool" as they think.
4. If you own one of these under common assumption, you would be a little upset to find out this information.
5. I like to ride roller coasters.

Seems kinda like a let down.

Good info Broken Coin! Thanks.

It doesn't matter how rare this coin is, I mean some were minted so SOME has to have one. I don't understand how some members can just come straight out and say this is fake without the facts.

I mean it could be real? :)