Why is 1943 copper penny

The few resulting copper cents were lost in the flood of millions of steel cents struck in and escaped detection by the Mint's quality control measures," according to Heritage Auctions.

Miller said 10 to 15 of the copper pennies exist today. Lutes set his copper penny aside to study it later when he found it in a bundle of change in the Pittsfield High School cafeteria in A US Army veteran, he would amass some 50, coins by the s when he retired from the family manufacturing business, according to Karpenski.

Lutes died in September at the age of 87, according to Miller. The Pittsfield resident was a quiet man with a small circle of friends that included fellow members of the coin and genealogy clubs he belonged to. A widower, he volunteered for decades at Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield's public library, according to Karpenski, who owns a coin store in Pittsfield.

The coining presses then produced pennies on zinc-coated steel planchets instead of bronze planchets. Both of these errors are extremely rare, but if you think you might have a copper penny or a steel penny, here's how to find out if your copper penny is genuine. In fact, it may be one of the most valuable pennies ever!

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Featured Video. Related Topics. Coin Collecting. Read More. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for TheSpruceCrafts. Approximately 40 copper—alloy cents are known to remain in existence. Coin experts speculate that they were struck by accident when copper—alloy 1—cent blanks remained in the press hopper when production began on the new steel pennies.

Because of its collector value, the copper cent has been counterfeited by coating steel cents with copper or by altering the dates of , , and pennies. The easiest way to determine if a cent is made of steel, and not copper, is to use a magnet.

If it sticks to the magnet, it is not copper.