1943 Steel Penny 0

[AliciaB]

I would like to find out more information about uncirculated but not yet professionally graded 

-1943 Steel Penny (no mint mark)

-1943 S Steel Penny

-1943 D Steel Penny 

 

[DWLange]

All three of them appear to have been replated outside the mints. This was a cottage industry in the 1950s and '60s. Such coins are considered alterations and have no collector value.

[AliciaB]

Replated? I guess the only way to know if the coins are authentic steel pennies would be to have them professionally graded? 

[Lem E]

Here is a good article on reprocessed steel cents.

https://coinweek.com/counterfeits/counterfeit-detection-special-edition-reprocessed-steel-cents/

[JKK]

On 7/26/2022 at 2:11 PM, AliciaB said:

Replated? I guess the only way to know if the coins are authentic steel pennies would be to have them professionally graded? 

It's not that they aren't authentic. It's that they are altered. We have seen enough of them, and enough of the unaltered ones, to identify them by sight. Mr. Lange is quite correct that these are altered--replated--and of no numismatic value. If you want to spend $180 or so to confirm that, it's your money.

[Coinbuf]

On 7/26/2022 at 2:11 PM, AliciaB said:

Replated? I guess the only way to know if the coins are authentic steel pennies would be to have them professionally graded? 

This would be a total waste of your money, the coins are authentic steel cents, but someone plated or polished them.   Coins like this fool novice or non-collectors because they are shiny, but the reality is that coins like this have no value to collectors. because they have been altered after they left the mint.

[AliciaB]

Ok, thank you all for the helpful information. 

[VKurtB]

On 7/26/2022 at 3:11 PM, DWLange said:

All three of them appear to have been replated outside the mints. This was a cottage industry in the 1950s and '60s. Such coins are considered alterations and have no collector value.

The Philly one looks the least suspect. The Denver is the most clearly reprocessed. 

Edited July 26, 2022 by VKurtB

[Sandon]

   1943 steel cents from all three mints--not to be confused with the very rare pieces struck on stray bronze blanks--are very common coins that aren't worth the cost of third party grading unless they would be likely to grade MS 67 or higher, which wouldn't be the case for those you have shown even if they hadn't been replated.  In the usual uncirculated grades they're only worth a few dollars apiece, less than a dollar if circulated or replated.  They're usually collected in coin albums for Lincoln cents. If you were to submit them to NGC in the "economy" tier as coins worth less than $300 each, you would pay a $23 grading fee per coin, a $10 processing fee for your order and substantial charges for shipping and insurance. It could take several months for you to get the coin back in that tier; "standard" service (somewhat faster but could still take over a month) would cost an additional $17 per coin.  PCGS fees are similar.  You'd also have to pay for an annual membership with submission privileges at NGC or PCGS.  

   If you want to collect coins, you need to read about and learn how to evaluate them for yourself.  You should have at a minimum a recent edition (2023 is the newest) copy of A Guide Book of United States Coins, a.k.a. the "Red Book", available at whitman.com, a subscription to a publication with news and a current price guide like Coin World or Numismatic News, and a photographic grading guide like The Official A.N.A. Grading Standards for United States Coins (available from Whitman) or Making the Grade, available from the publishers of Coin World (coinworld.com).  The NGC and PCGS websites also contain valuable educational resources and price guides. (PCGS has an online grading guide, PCGS Photograde, accessible under "Resources" at the bottom of the PCGS home page, pcgs.com.. You should also try to attend coin shows and examine third party graded coins as well as uncertified specimens.  I've been collecting coins since 1971, fifteen years before NGC and PCGS existed, and found that much of the enjoyment of collecting is in the pursuit of knowledge about coins and being able to rely on my own judgment about them instead of relying on a grading service.

 

  

[RWB]

On 7/26/2022 at 5:11 PM, AliciaB said:

Replated? I guess the only way to know if the coins are authentic steel pennies would be to have them professionally graded? 

No. The plating is very easy to spot. Go to any major coin auction site and compare images of a normal 1943 cent and the ones you posted. The differences are obvious. Your three coins are worth 3-cents.

Edited July 27, 2022 by RWB