I may have found a 1943 copper penny?!?

jimmyforgotten · Apr 15, 2014

I'm new to the CRHing world, but I've been going through coins like it's going out of style for a couple of months now; mostly halves, pennies, and some nickels. I've been learning as I go, and for a while the number of penny bags I had to hammer out was overwhelming so I was setting the wheats aside to look at later.

Well I was going through the couple hundred wheats I have with a list of key dates, and I come across a what looks like a copper 1943 in pretty bad shape, copper 1943 was on my list. Again, I'm new to this so it didn't really sink in until I looked at the average sell price for a circulated copper 43. Then it was like getting SMACKED! So of course I'm thinking it just can't be a 43, and honestly it is possible that is a 45, but however I turns out this is a blast!

Not sure where to go from here other than a coin shop, but I certainly need to get it checked out. I'll post a picture and let you have a look as well.

And I thought it couldn't get more addicting!

JF

Iamrussell · Apr 15, 2014

Gonna need a lot better close up clear pic for us to give any info-

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just keep stacking, just keep stacking, stacking stacking stacking

NHBandit · Apr 15, 2014

Sell it and buy a real camera. :laughing7:

jimmyforgotten · Apr 15, 2014

My Iphone 5, what can I say?!

I'll try to get it to focus closer when I get back to the house tonight, it doesn't help that the coin is in pretty rough shape.

CoinFetcher · Apr 15, 2014

looks like a '45 to me.

You pictures are not adequate!

rare is rare is rare....

Diggin-N-Dumps · Apr 15, 2014

...Another one of these.....I hate to say it...but if its not CLEAR AS DAY...you have about a 99.8% chance its not the real deal

Dozer D · Apr 15, 2014

Looks like a 45'. The bottom loop of the 5 is too large to be a 3. A closer pic would help.

Scott (Mich) · Apr 15, 2014

if the date is 1943 grab a magnet and see if it sticks. Steelies will, coppers will not. I have heard of some people copper plating the steel versions but a good magnet from the fridge will tell you if it is steel.

jimmyforgotten · Apr 15, 2014

Here, I had a chance to crop it, and resize it. Lets see how it turns out.

mAGma · Apr 15, 2014

Hahahaha no. Arent there something like 10 or 20 of those known to exist?

50cent · Apr 15, 2014

mAGma said:
Hahahaha no. Arent there something like 10 or 20 of those known to exist?

still a chance, son.

SilverLunker · Apr 15, 2014

Looks like 1943 to me but that's just me

Count Skrule · Apr 15, 2014

looks like a 44, but man, you gotta get some light on that and a macro focus. my sidekick 4g takes better picks, but I would be lying if I knew the current iphone number. My phone is at least 3-4 years old.

jimmyforgotten · Apr 16, 2014

After looking at this this thing every which way, and comparing it to the 45 philly I have, and the 1943 philly pictures I can find online, I am pretty close to saying I'm certain that the number is 1943. I'm still trying to be as skeptical as possible though. The coin is certainly copper (at least nonferrous), but I have no idea if it's a fake or not.

I've been looking into this coin a lot over the past day as you can imagine, and it is believed that there are more that made it into circulation then were found. I read numbers from 25-40 more that "could be" out there assuming they survived.

I am not allowing myself to become excited anytime soon, but it is fun to consider the odds against finding one, and the number of hands it had to be in that had no idea what they had in their possession to make it 70 years in what appears to be heavy circulation, just to find itself in a bank bag or box I happened to get my hands on. Crazy unlikely!

Here are some more hopefully better pics: