1944 Wheat Cent Questions - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 11 / Views: 4,619
R-Dawkins Valued Member South Africa 105 Posts	Posted 06/15/2012 7:16 pm Hi guys, I collect mostly British pre-decimals but was given this coin by a friend of mine... and I know absolutely nothing about it... i read up on numista and saw there were different varieties but didnt know where to look for the signature and stuff.. also could someone clarify the composition of the 1944 Wheat cent for me please? Thanks! Report this Post to the Staff

John1 Moderator United States 56855 Posts	Posted 06/15/2012 7:51 pm coppercoins.com shows the varieties. 95% copper 5% zinc. John1 Report this Post to the Staff
ghostrider Pillar of the Community United States 1116 Posts	Posted 06/15/2012 10:31 pm R-Dawkins I looked up the following information from the 2012 Red Book that is published by Whitman publishing. Variety 1 (Bronze) Resumed (1944 -1958) Cartridge cases were salvaged for coinage of 1944 - 1946. Although the color was slightly different for uncirculated specimens, the coins were satisfactory overall. 1944-1946 weight, 3.11 grams;composition .950 copper, .050 zinc; diameter 19mm; plain edge. If I hadn't looked this information up I would have never known about melted cartridge cases being used in these years coins. In 1943 the pennies were made out of Zinc coated steel, because copper was a necessary war material. Almost 1.1 billion clad steel pennies were made in 1943. This saved a lot copper for the war effort. 1943 pennies are considered to be Variety 2. Anyway all those pennies saved over 3.4 billion grams of copper. I have no idea what that figure would convert to in pounds. Perhaps some engineer out there could convert that for us. Anyway the figure does sound impressive, a probably made one boatload of cartridge cases. Especially if for two years recycled cartridge cases made all our pennies. Almost sounds biblical - spears to plows so to speak. Report this Post to the Staff
jokingjoker Pillar of the Community United States 2150 Posts	Posted 06/15/2012 10:33 pm Is that a Cud by the date? Report this Post to the Staff
clairhardesty Pillar of the Community United States 1027 Posts	Posted 06/15/2012 10:49 pm 3.4 billion grams is about 3725 US tons of copper (7.45 million US pounds). Report this Post to the Staff
ghostrider Pillar of the Community United States 1116 Posts	Posted 06/15/2012 11:00 pm Actually I think that I overstated the copper content saved by 5%. But anyway you look it overall it is still a lot of weight copper saved in 1943. About 1/3 of a million pounds. forgot to redact the zinc content. Report this Post to the Staff
ghostrider Pillar of the Community United States 1116 Posts	Posted 06/15/2012 11:07 pm Quote: [green][jokingjoker/green] Is that a Cud by the date? After 68 years it could be, but how would you prove it today after all the years of wear and tear that that coin has seen. By the way of a question: If it was a Cud would it increase its value? I believe that a Cud is formed during the manufacturing process but could anything else have caused the damaged during its life? Report this Post to the Staff
biokemist6 Bedrock of the Community United States 12437 Posts	Posted 06/16/2012 12:24 am Average circulated wheat cents like your 1944 typically sell for 3-5 cents each in bulk lots. The raised area next to the date is a rim ding(damage). Report this Post to the Staff
R-Dawkins Valued Member South Africa 105 Posts	Posted 06/16/2012 05:20 am thanks for all the replies! Ghostrider, I was quite fascinated by the cartridge casing info! Who knows I might just start collecting this series from now on.. :)Thanks again. Report this Post to the Staff
just carl Bedrock of the Community United States 20753 Posts	Posted 06/16/2012 10:14 am 1,435,400,000 Minted of that 1944 Cent. A long time ago we used to laugh at how almost every coin in our pockets was a 1944 Cent. Of course this was a long, long time ago. Sort of the same thing with the 1964 Nickel. Report this Post to the Staff
hockingzig Pillar of the Community United States 1450 Posts	Posted 06/16/2012 7:58 pm For clarification(and maybe further discussion)from what I read,the shell cases were "added to" the alloy. So,the cents were not "made of shell casings" but the casings were included in the metal mix. I am not trying to nitpick,I just added that clarification because I have seen them advertised for sale as "melted shell casings struck into coins" when in reality,the shell casing content may only be 1-2% of the total metal. Report this Post to the Staff
CaptainFwiffo Pillar of the Community United States 4132 Posts	Posted 06/16/2012 9:17 pm Also, Google does unit conversion. Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 11 / Views: 4,619

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