1943 steel penny

[newtector]

Picked one up tonight. Needs some cleaning on the reverse side. What works best that won't damage the coin? Pictures to come!

 

[Tnmountains]

Not sure how to clean. I got one in change the other day!

 

[newtector]

Turns out it's a steel wheatie! Here are pics, any idea on value?

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[BigWaveDave]

Less than 10 cents, sorry to say, ok maybe a quarter in that its an "S" mint...and as far as cleaning? No clue...how about...wait for it, STEEL WOOL!

 

[newtector]

Haha thanks Dave, would cleaning it ruin the value....value haha!!!! Maniacal laughter!!!

 

[huntsman53]

Since the coin has very little value with the exception to yourself, clean it and store it away for your kids. Steel Cents are tough and other than removing the Zinc coating on them, it really is hard to do damage to them by simple and even more involved methods of cleaning them. Rust and sometimes heavy corrosion are the biggest issues you will have with most of them. You can and I have cleaned them with a dremel and the small wire wheel that comes with most dremel sets. This will remove the rust that can't be removed by pretty much anything else and it will also polish the coin. However, since it removes most of not all of the Zinc coating, you will either have to re-coat the coin with a Zinc solution or paint or oil the coin then seal it up. A friend of mine, Tom purchases Steel Cents then polishes them probably with Brasso, then 2x2's them and sells them at Flea Markets. While we always advise to never clean and/or polish a coin, it seems that with Flea Marketers, it matters very little as Tom always sells out of every Steel Cent he places on his' tables at the Flea Market.


Frank

 

[Joe777Cool]

Clr works really well on these.