1944 Cents Minted On Steel Planchets Meant For The 1943's

hemi,

Genuine examples do exist.

They came about in the same way and for the same reasons as the 1943 copper cents.

After the end of the coining of the 1943 steel cents, a few steel planchets managed to escape being removed from the coining processes...possibly "hiding" in the coining machinery or in the large hoppers used to transport coins and planchets from one place to another.

In 1944 the steel planchets were dislodged or otherwise found their way back into the system and got coined and shipped out with the regular 1944 cents.

I don't know how many genuine specimens are known or which mints they are from.
Maybe Chuck or someone else can tell us.

Steve

And if you find one hemi I'll give ya five bucks for it!!

Now that you have stopped laughing, welcome to CC.

Michael

In the 1996 book "The complete Guide To Lincoln Cents" author David Lange estimates that 35-38 1944 steel cents have been confirmed as genuine. 27 p-mints, 7-10 d-mints, and 1 s-mint. On the Wayne Herndon rare coin website there is an example of a PCGS AU55 1944 steel cent. They listed the coin for $14,500.

Here's some interesting info I found on this topic:

During 1944 the U.S. Mint coined 25 million 2 Franc coins for Belgium.

These were produced using THE SAME zinc-plated steel planchets that were used for the U.S. 1943 cents!

Steve