Bronze Clad Steel Cents - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 6 / Views: 1,736
Fox Pillar of the Community 708 Posts	Posted 03/19/2015 04:30 am I remember reading that the U.S. Mint did an experiment with a bronze clad steel one cent coin that they later scrapped the idea for. I have a few questions about them. The first question is, by "bronze clad steel" did they mean similar to the current copper cupronickel clad dimes, quarters, halves and silver colored dollar coins and copper clad manganese brass golden colored dollar coins we have, only the bronze clad steel cents were copper on both sides with a steel core? Second, was this type of cent composition cheaper at the time? Third, why did they scrap the plans to use this composition for cents? And finally, why is it illegal to own them? I heard that most of them were destroyed by being melted for their steel content, but one of the bags broke open, and some people got a hold of some of them, as they were not all recovered. But I don't understand why they are illegal to own. Thanks for any information. Report this Post to the Staff

jbuck Moderator United States 187702 Posts	Posted 03/19/2015 1:20 pm 1. I could be wrong, but I think it is just copper plated steel, like copper plated zinc. 2. Probably. 3. Zinc lobby paid more than the steel lobby. Coin Collector Since 1978 Avatar Old Avatar 7070 Eisenhower Australia Canada World CCF Members on eBay CCF eBay Search Engine Report this Post to the Staff
Conder101 Bedrock of the Community United States 17884 Posts	Posted 03/19/2015 2:08 pm They have always been described as bronze clad steel and I would suspect they are clad like out current coins are and not just plated. Probably similar to the German one and five pfennig coins from 1949 to ?. two layers of bronze clad to the steel core. Second probably because the steel was significantly cheaper than the copper. Third, they decided not to change the composition because the price of copper declined and the cent shortage ended. So they scrapped the idea of using aluminum or bronze clad steel. Are they illegal to own? Well the government says so. They maintain they are still government property. Report this Post to the Staff
Finn235 Pillar of the Community United States 6130 Posts	Posted 03/19/2015 3:00 pm Not to mention that Brinks/Loomis/CoinStar etc would have to completely re-tool their machines to not reject or capture magnetic coins. Report this Post to the Staff
jbuck Moderator United States 187702 Posts	Posted 03/19/2015 3:00 pm Ah. I was confusing this with the debate between copper plating zinc or steel. I did not realize there was ever an actual plan and trial run for bronze-steel clad cents. Interesting. What was the actual time-frame? Was it was around the 1973 aluminum trial? Coin Collector Since 1978 Avatar Old Avatar 7070 Eisenhower Australia Canada World CCF Members on eBay CCF eBay Search Engine Report this Post to the Staff
Conder101 Bedrock of the Community United States 17884 Posts	Posted 03/20/2015 2:24 pm Yes same time frame, 1973, but they weren't discussed publicly at the time and the bronze clad steel patterns did not become known until the late 80's. Edited by Conder101 03/20/2015 2:25 pm Report this Post to the Staff
jbuck Moderator United States 187702 Posts	Posted 03/20/2015 3:27 pm Very interesting. Thanks! Coin Collector Since 1978 Avatar Old Avatar 7070 Eisenhower Australia Canada World CCF Members on eBay CCF eBay Search Engine Report this Post to the Staff
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