The 1943 Penny Was Minted in Steel, Not Copper
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Susan Headley is a well-respected coin collecting expert and writer with over 30 years of hands-on numismatic experience.She is a member of the American Numismatic Association (ANA) and holds several certifications. Susan also belongs to the American Numismatic Society (ANS) and CONECA (error and variety coins club).
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Updated on 09/09/24
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/US0001-1943-Lincoln-Cent-Copper-Genuine-Fake-56a973475f9b58b7d0fb84aa.jpg "Is Your 1943 Copper Penny Real or Fake? (1)")
Most pennies the United States Mint produced in 1943 were made of zinc-plated steel because the U.S. needed copper for World War II supplies. If your 1943 Lincoln penny is copper colored, you have an extremely rare error coin on your hands—or a fake!
Here's how to tell a genuine 1943 copper error penny (rare and likely valuable) from a counterfeit.
Copper Plated 1943 Fakes
At one time, genuine 1943 steel pennies were copper-plated and sold as novelty items at coin shows and flea markets. Many of these coins were spent and ended up in circulation alongside genuine Lincoln error cents (1943 authentic and rare copper error coins). Over time, people would find copper-plated steel pennies and think they found a rare mint error.
When they took these coins to a coin dealer, the dealer would hold a magnet over the penny, and the steel underneath the copper plating would attract the penny to the magnet. This magnet test process is the easiest way to tell if your penny is solid copper or copper-plated.
You can test the authenticity of your 1943 copper penny by seeing if it sticks to a magnet. If it does, your penny is worth about 15 cents as a novelty item.
Altered 1948 Lincoln Cent
If your 1943 copper-colored penny doesn't stick to a magnet, use a magnifying glass to look at the date. Fraudsters have tried to counterfeit 1943 copper cents by grinding away part of the 8 on a 1948 penny. So, if the tail of the last digit in the date—the number 3—doesn't extend well below the bottom of the other date numbers, it's probably a cut-in-half 8 (see the photo above). If the 3 in your date looks like half an 8, your coin is not a genuine 1943 copper penny.
Chinese Counterfeit Coins
Chinese counterfeiters manufacture high-quality counterfeit coins to deceive coin collectors in the United States. Some of these coins resemble genuine 1943 Lincoln cents; theChinese counterfeitersuse copperblanks, so the coins won't stick to a magnet.
Unfortunately, there's no easy way to differentiate between a genuine 1943 copper penny and a Chinese counterfeit. Fortunately, Lincoln cent experts atthird-partygrading servicescan tell the difference by closely inspecting the coin under a stereo microscope. Additionally, a professional numismatist may be able to tell the difference before you send the coin to a third-party grading service
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/genuine-or-fake-1943-copper-penny-768883-final1-5c59fbba46e0fb000152fc4b.png "Is Your 1943 Copper Penny Real or Fake? (2)")
Seek a Second Opinion
If your 1943 copper penny doesn't stick to a magnet and the last digit in the date does not look like it was altered from a 1948 penny, seek a second opinion from aqualified coin dealer. Most dealers don't charge to look at your coins and give you an informal verbal appraisal. If they believe your penny is authentic, ask them to submit it to a third-party grading service on your behalf. If the coin dealer determines it's a fake, seek a second opinion from another dealer.
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