20th Century Boy Scout and more
1c LINCOLN STEEL 1943

Owner Comments:

Growing up in the 60's, steel cents were those ugly black coins sometimes found in change. While an interesting curiosity, and another jumping off point for my father to tell yet another WWII story, the coins were not interesting to the child I was. Then I found out how lovely they could be in their pristine mint condition - like the bumper on a 50's Cadillac. This shinny steelie was purchased from Cheapslabs.com for almost half its retail, and less than the current auctions. It was a great find.

Coinage during WWII was a story unto itself. The U.S. Mint was asked to conserve, if not eliminate, the use of bronze (copper alloy) during the war. While there were several other alternative metals considered, such as aluminum and stainless steel, in 1943 the mint chose a zinc-coated steel alloy. Over a billion steel cents were minted at the three mints in 1943. When freshly minted these steel cents looked much like dimes at a glance and caused some confusion. Additionally, they were magnetic, which meant they would not work in many penny vending machines at the time. The steel penny experiment lasted a single year.