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 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,579 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
500 Posts |
Newbie question here. I remember liking these "steel pennies" as a kid - my uncle had a few of them in AU condition. So I was surprised that my local shop said they bought them at the same 2.5 cents each as any other Wheat penny. I was in a different coin shop this weekend and noticed a box full of them, that all appeared to be AU quality new looking, listed at 15 cents each. I was planning on picking up some but forgot - they were stacked up 10 deep with folks selling gold jewelry and I was the only "coin customer" in the place. Anyway, are they really this "plentiful" and semi-worthless? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7840 Posts |
Watch out for "reprocessed" steelies. There are numerous steel cents that were re-plated to appear to be in better condition that they appear.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
It seems like there wouldn't be many because of magnets in coin counting machines and their extra novelty factor, but they actually don't seem hard to find. I know the mintage numbers weren't particularly low. I remember as a kid getting one in change on a trip to Canada. A couple weeks ago I found two plus about 20 other wheats in a jar of change that contained about $47 in pennies.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
500 Posts |
That might explain the "bin at 15 cents". How can one "tell" if its been re-plated?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
Over a billion zinc-plated steel cents were minted in 1943 so they are fairly common and they have also been heavily hoarded. It is a simple task to determine whether one was been replated/reprocessed- look at the edge of the coin. An original example will have raw steel exposed on the edge while a replated example will be completely plated and typically have an unnatural shine.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7840 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3278 Posts |
10-15 cents apiece is about right for average circulated coins,
due to novelty not rarity. Nice piece of American history.
Replated one's are really shiny and lack a natural "crusty" look.
Reprocessed also may look worn but at the same time with a shiny new finish.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
500 Posts |
Good info. Thanks. I suspect the 15 cents ones were reprocessed as they look like they just came off the press, through the display case glass at least.
I'll ask about them and take a good look before I buy any. They did look too good to be true to me. Probably were/are. I wish everyone would just leave coins alone. All the colorizing and re-plating and such just mystifies me!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
500 Posts |
As a follow-up, they were reprocessed/plated ones at 15c.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2651 Posts |
When I got my grandfathers collection he had alot of uncirculated ones...At first I thought they might be worth alot of money until it was explained to me that everyone back in that time kept abunch because the were so "different" looking...finding them in great condition isn't that hard.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
860 Posts |
The 1943 cents were made from zinc plated steel and then punched out, so the edge of the cent was steel, and with magnification visible. The edge often shows rust corrosion rather than the whitish zinc corrosion of the surfaces.
A replated coin will have zinc on the edge as well as the surfaces and a sure sign of reprocessing.
Jim
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19935 Posts |
Save up $10 and you can get a nice MS PDS set. No sense in piddling with the lower grades really. These are cheap and plentiful in high grades.
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Replies: 11 / Views: 1,579 |
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Posted 06/27/2011 1:15 pm
