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Sale 42
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Lot 2462
1943 Lincoln Cent. In a PCGS holder #21445181 marked "Genuine." This is a famous coin with a very interesting past. In 1943 the United States Congress authorized the Mint to strike one-cent pieces out of zinc-coated steel as an emergency measure. Industrial shortages caused by World War II impacted critical copper supplies, a useful war metal, one found in all sorts of things from electrical wiring in ships, planes, and land vehicles to its use in the manufacture of millions of cartridge casings per month for the war effort.
The replacement steel cents of 1943 were a temporary expedient, made only in that one year. They are easy to differentiate from the pre-1943 and post-1943 copper cents. It so happens that a few 1943 copper cents were inadvertently made. (Technically, these should be referred to as 1943 "bronze" cents, since the alloy consists of 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc and not pure copper.) To understand how this happened, how 1943 cents in copper could be minted, it pays to know something about how Lincoln cents were made in those days. They began as 10-foot diameter rolls of metal refined to the proper alloy and rolled to the proper thickness. Coin blanks were then cut from out using a giant cookie cutter planchet-punching press. Afterwards, the blanks were washed and heated-treated. The prepared cent blanks were transferred to hoppers that carried them on train tracks to the coin press room. There the hoppers dumped the blanks onto a conveyor belt leading to the coining presses. Over a billion steel cents were struck at the three U.S. mints in 1943!
In 1943, mint workers thought they had made sure no copper blanks were left behind in the hoppers from the prior year's coinage. They missed a few, however, because 1943 copper cents later turned up found in circulation. Almost all are known in circulated condition.
The 1943 copper cent is one of the most storied coins in all of American numismatics. Partly, this is due to extensive ad campaigns in magazines and comic books in the 1950s and 1960s, after which prices began to rise. (People believed up to that time that all circulating 1943 Lincoln cents were struck on zinc-coated steel planchets because copper was needed for the war effort.)
One of the first 1943 copper cents to be discovered was found in change in 1947. Another find was reported that year in the June issue of the American Numismatic Association's (ANA) monthly journal, The Numismatist. In 1947, the acting superintendent of the Philadelphia Mint, Edwin H. Dressel, dismissed the possibility of such a coin to an inquiring collector, stating that the Mint did not strike any copper cents in 1943.
A 1943 copper cent was first offered for sale in 1958, bringing more than $40,000. A subsequent piece sold for $10,000 at an ANA convention in 1981. The highest amount ever paid for a 1943 copper cent is $212,750 in February 2003 by this company. The coin was a 1943-D which is unique.
The coin offered in this lot has a foundation grade of Very Fine 30, but with some marks and abrasions defacing it somewhat. The toning is all original, with lighter bronze shades in the fields and unprotected areas and deeper toned shades in the sheltered areas around the legends and devices. While we do not expect a record-breaking price realized, we do feel this piece will realize significantly more than other pieces have in the past few years due to increased interest shown in such pieces in recent months (PCGS # 82709) .
The history of this particular 1943 copper cent has an interesting twist to it. At one point, it's ownership fell to a young paperboy (age not given). For some reason, possibly to test that it was really copper and not copper-plated-steel, he put a cut onto the face of Lincoln and also tested the field with a few scrapes. This was in an era when full page advertisements proclaiming the rarity of the 1943 copper cents were splashed across the nation's press and on the inside back covers of popular magazines and comic books, so any savvy youngster would naturally be on the lookout for such a score. Our consignor bought the coin at the Dearborn Michigan Coin Show around twenty years ago for $19,000. It has been with his family ever since. The coin also comes with a notebook full of articles about 1943 copper cents.
Estimated Value $50,000 - 80,000.
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| Realized $60,375 |
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