Two Of The First 1943 Steel Cents To Be Struck - With Provenance From Mint Director Nellie Ross

I have a recent ebay purchase to share which is also an interesting piece of numismatic history.

It consists of two BU 1943 Steel Wheat Cents along with a letter dated March 10, 1943 from the Director of the Mint, Nellie Tayloe Ross to Texas Congressman Albert Thomas.

In the letter, Director Tayloe Ross says she is sending Representative Thomas "these new one-cent pieces from among the first to come from the presses - - made of zinc-coated steel. I thought that you might have some sentiment about possessing them."

The first steel cents were struck at the Philadelphia Mint on February 27, 1943. My daughter, who is a skilled online researcher, found a newspaper article about this event that states, "Assistant Mint Director Leland Howard handed first samples to mint officials."

I haven't been able to determine if Mint Director Tayloe Ross was present at the mint the day of the striking, but she must have received some of the first strike steel cents.

She states in her letter to Representative Thomas, who was a member of the House Appropriations Committee, that she had been on an official trip outside of Washington, D.C., but when she returned, she took "this first opportunity to send you" the coins.

I contacted the ebay seller, who sells mostly old plates and cups, and asked her if she had any further information on the letter and coins. She responded that Representative Thomas was her husband's grandfather and that they had inherited many of the items from his estate. The letter and coins were part of his estate.




The coins came to me in soft plastic sleeves. The letter has two rusty staples on the upper left corner, along with remains of paper, so I would guess that when the coins were mailed, they must have been in paper envelopes of some type.

Sometime later they were put in the plastic sleeves. They must have been in them for many years because imprints of the coins' designs have been left of the plastic.




Unfortunately, even though these are among the first steel cents to be struck, the years have not been overly kind to them as you can see from my photos.





Nellie Tayloe Ross was a fascinating person. Her husband was governor of Wyoming. When he died in office in 1924, a special election was held and his wife was elected, becoming the first woman governor in U.S. history.

President Franklin Roosevelt appointed her as Director of the Mint in 1933, a position she held until 1953. During her tenure she oversaw the production of the 1943 Steel Cent, which she considered a failure due to the public's lack of acceptance of them, and was instrumental in creating the Jefferson nickel and the Franklin half dollar. She lived to the ripe old age of 101, dying in 1977.




Congressman Thomas, a Democrat from Texas, served in the House of Representatives from 1933 until his death in 1967.

He was present in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, when President John Kennedy was assassinated. He is in the famous photo of Lyndon Johnson being sworn in as president on Air Force One that same day. He is the man in the bow tie in the left side of the photo.