Shonuff40 Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 Hello, I have been collecting coins for as long as I can remember, But I never really Researched things about the coins.I just colected ones I thought were Different or interesting. Recently I have been doing research on some of my coins I have a 1943 1cent Lincoln wheat penny no mint mark. It's not in the best of shape, actually it's in pretty bad shape. But what I have researched is that it could be very valuable. But on the internet There's so much that I can't figure out what I need to look for. Here is a couple pictures. Any help or assistance would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lem E Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 Your coin is very beat up and I can’t quite make out the date. A normal 43 cent is made from steel. This looks to be copper. I would say this is not a 1943 cent. powermad5000 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandon Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 Welcome to the NGC chat board. The date on your mutilated Lincoln, wheat reverse cent (minted in and dated each year from 1909 through 1958) has been nearly obliterated, but the third digit appears to be a "3" of the style used in each year of the 1930s except for 1934, so it almost certainly was not dated 1943. Due to the damage, the date likely could not be established with any certainty. Therefore, the coin has no collector value. 1943 cents from all three mints (hundreds of millions from each of them) were made of zinc coated steel to conserve copper for wartime purposes and are abundantly common. A few stray pieces were struck on leftover bronze planchets and are extremely rare. See, for example, NGC Certifies Rare 1943 Copper Cent | NGC (ngccoin.com). If you are under the impression that you have any reasonable chance of finding a rare or valuable coin in pocket change or random accumulations of coins, please read the following recent article by a well-known coin dealer: Jeff Garrett: Fake News and Misinformation in Numismatics | NGC (ngccoin.com). If you want to learn about U.S. coins from legitimate print and online resources, please refer to those identified in the following forum topics: powermad5000 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenstang Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 I would like to know how the OP could possibly think that is a 1943 cent. it is not even gradeable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henri Charriere Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 (edited) On 8/9/2024 at 4:47 PM, Greenstang said: I would like to know how the OP could possibly think that is a 1943 cent. it is not even gradeable. My ill-informed, uneducated guess is an attempt was made to alter the date of a copper cent but so many hamds were involved that the only way to play it off was to mutilate features of the rest of the coin to lend the query legitimacy. Malheureusement, the attempt to provide a smidgen of authenticity failed spectacularly. Grade was never a consideration. Date was. Sho'nuff! Sho'nuff! Edited August 9 by Henri Charriere Addition of apt parting shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
