11-08-2021, 05:14 AM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: ABQ, New Mexico
Posts: 36,633
Thanks: 3,506
Thanked 136,542 Times in 22,784 Posts
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During World War II pennies were struck in zinc-coated steel as copper was needed for the war effort, but a tiny batch was accidentally minted in copper. Up to 26 examples of the Philadelphia and San Francisco-minted coins are estimated to be floating around. In 1947, 16-year-old Don Lutes Jr discovered one of these coins in his lunch money change, and kept it. It sold at auction for a whopping $204,000. The best way to identify a 1943 copper penny is to use a magnet. Steel pennies will stick, while the valuable copper rarities will not.
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