43 Copper Wheatie Found In 1963

My uncle told me a remarkable story recently. When he was a young boy, he says he found a 1943 copper. It was not magnetic. As best he recalls, this was in the mid or late 1940s. He took it to his mother and said, "Mom, I want you to keep this penny in a very safe place. It is a very valuable coin. You could buy a new Ford with this penny."

My grandmother took the coin and put it aside but didn't really believe it could be so valuable. Sometime after that-- not clear if was days, weeks, or months-- he asked for the coin. She couldn't find it. Apparently she had put it in her coin purse and spent it on groceries. They tore the house up looking for it but it was gone.



This is not the side of my family from which our hoard came, although my paternal grandparents did buy and save uncirculated rolls of cents and nickels from the grandkids' birth years and I have some of those.

Most likely a fake from false dies. The image isn't good but it doesn't look right.

Every once in a while I see Copper Plated 1943 Cents at coin shows. I've now got 3 of them in almost Unc condition. Sure wish those were really Copper. Used to be a big fad to plate those with all kinds of STUFF.