silver penny

mark43 · May 14, 2007

was going through my wifes collection of wheat pennys and other clad she has collected over the years just to do some air testing on my ace 250 and see what signal i was getting in different modes.....i found a wheat penny that looked odd so i ran it near the coil and it came up as iron....upon closer examination it wasnt copper at all, it was silver....a 1943d....every mode i put it in, it came up iron....looked it up on internet and if im right it was because there was a shortage of copper for the war so they made silver wheats for a bit....does this sound correct to all u coin experts out there? i'll post a pic. later on since its 430am here in the east and must get ready for work.....any replys would be great....happy monday to all.......mark43

l.cutler · May 14, 2007

Yes, because of the need for copper during the war 1943 cents were made from zinc coated steel.

Tsalagi · May 14, 2007

those 43 pennies were made of steel and coated with zinc
try putting it to a magnet it is the only pennie that will stick to a magnet

and if you can ever come across a 43 penny that is copper its one sweet find
$1000 -$20,000 depending on condition ofcourse

anyway good luck and HH