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 Replies: 7 / Views: 3,183 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3330 Posts |
The color of this cent makes me think it might be a shell case cent. I found the following reference in another forum by Conder101: Quote:
n Roger Burdette's new book United states Pattern & Experimental pieces of WWII, he does cite records that indicate that the mints DID use recycled shell cases and that the cases were from US training facilities. "Railroad gondola cars filled with shellcases soon appeared at mint facilities."(291) "US cents consumed 3,500 pounds of cartridge cases per day, six days a week, at the Philadelphia Mint. They were also the primary metal for a two-franc brass coin (21,000 pounds per day) and Peruvian coinage that was expected to consume over 275,000 pounds on completion.(292) The War Production Board had allocated 1,200,000 pounds (600 tons) to the Philadelphia Mint and equivalent amounts to the other mints. Shipments were scheduled to arrive every five days." 291 Based on descriptions in mint documents, most of the expended cartridges were 50 caliber. The army made sure no live cartridges were included. 292 NARA-CP, RG104, entry 328-H, box 3 "Philadelphia Mint operating records." Letter date 2/29/44 from Helen C Moore, Acting Superintendent, Philadelphia Mint to Director Ross. NARA-CP is National Archives and Records Administration College Park MD RG104 is Record Group 104. That is the record group for records dealing with the US Mint. This might explain why all 1944-D cents are not this same color (they were not all made from shell casings?) Weight = 3.05g.   Edited by Pete2226
09/20/2016 4:10 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2403 Posts |
Don't know much about these....Just wanted to compliment you on your pictures. Great images of your coin in question.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2253 Posts |
Quote:
The army made sure no live cartridges were included. Darn, wish they would have sent a couple live ones. Would have made for some interesting errors.  The article is interesting. Never thought to look at the colors. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
There is a discrepancy in the weight allowances quoted, and the actual coin production. The figures Roger cites would only allow for the production of about 175 million coins at each mint, but the actual production was way above that. But the WPA was NOT allowing the mint much other copper, certainly not enough for cent production of the magnitude they were coining. Other things that don't make sense are 3,500 pounds a day for cents but 21,000 pounds a day for 2 franc pieces? I wonder if that 600 ton figure was the amount of raw copper allowed them to bring the 70% copper alloy up to 95% If so that would allow the production of over 700 million cents.
These would be interesting questions for Roger since he has seen the actual figures for the allowance of materials to the mint by the WPA.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3330 Posts |
Quote:
There is a discrepancy in the weight allowances quoted, and the actual coin production. I have seen some opinions expressed (without documentation) stating that not all 1944 cents were from shell casings. Anecdotally, I notice that most of the 1944 cents I find are a typical brown color - and not this yellowish color. So I was wondering if color might be a way to identify which are made from shell casings? |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
You would think so, but all the circ 1944 cents I've seen look pretty much like any other LWC from the era. The coin above has certainly been cleaned at some point - totally unnatural looking. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5828 Posts |
[  this one was probably cleaned at one point unfortunately |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3330 Posts |
There is a debate about whether some shell casing cents have a lighter tone or not. NGC, for example, is skeptical: Quote:Reports that the color is different for these "shellcase" cents seem doubtful. https://www.NGCcoin.com/coin-explor...coinid-12721 Whereas PCGS seems to allow for the possibility: Quote:the somewhat lighter tone would be unusual for a 1942 bronze planchet, though less so for the shell-casing alloy planchets used on cents of 1944-46. http://www.PCGS.com/News/Unique-Bro...013-New-York |
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Replies: 7 / Views: 3,183 |
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Posted 09/20/2016 4:03 pm
