A Rare 1943 Wheat Penny In Your Coin Jug Could Be Worth $100,000 Or More (2024)

FAQs

A Rare 1943 Wheat Penny In Your Coin Jug Could Be Worth $100,000 Or More? ›

1943 Wheat Penny (back)

Here's the magic part (drumroll please). If a penny sticks to the magnet, check the date. A 1943 circulated penny that sticks is worth 10 cents or so.

Double Die Error: Some 1943 steel pennies were struck with a double die error, like the 1943/2-S, resulting in a distinct doubling of the date and other features on the coin. These are considered rare and appealing to collectors.

If the tail of the last digit in the date, the number 3, does not extend well below the bottom of the other numbers in the date, it is probably a cut-in-half 8 (see the photo above). If the 3 in your date looks like half of an 8, your coin is not a genuine 1943 copper penny.

The 1943 copper penny is extremely rare - it is estimated that no more than 40 of them were minted, and at the last count 13 were known to exist.

Coins with mistakes, such as a double die or missing letters, can be worth significantly more than their regular counterparts. Another way is to look for specific years known to be scarce or have low mintage numbers. Collectors also value wheat pennies with a high level of detail and minimal wear.

1943 Wheat Penny (back)

There was still material left in the mint presses from the 1942 production so they accidentally made one batch out of copper. Only about 20-40 of those pennies are out there. A used one, as most are, can net you from $100,000 – $500,000.

Although they continued to circulate into the 1960s, the mint collected large numbers of the 1943 cents and destroyed them. The steel cent is the only regular-issue United States coin that can be picked up with a magnet.

Hello, my name is***** am happy to assist you. The 1943 Penny is a steel penny. If you see no mint mark, the absence of a mint mark means it was minted in Philadelphia. CMV (Current market value) in circulated condition is in the range $2-3.

It is estimated that there were 40 1943 copper pennies produced, and of those 40, there are 27 known surviving coins. Their rarity makes them one of the most coveted and sought-after items in American numismatics.

What is the penny everyone is looking for? ›

According to Cointrackers.com, certain pennies that were minted in 1944 and 1943 top the list of the 25 most valuable pennies for coin collectors in 2024. The 1944 Steel Wheat penny could be worth as much as $408,000 in mint condition, and up to $10,000 in average condition, the site said.

The 1943 Lincoln, Steel cent should stick to a magnet and the red is a form of oxidization (rust) - the missing 4 is the result of a grease filled die (where the sunken area of the die is filled and prevents a design element from being fully struck).

There's A 1936 Wheat Penny Worth $5,000!

During World War II, the war effort required a lot of copper to make shell casings and munitions. In 1943 U.S. Mint produced the penny out of zinc plated steel to save copper for the war effort, so most 1943 pennies are silver colored.

For a Lincoln cent, however, the 1943 copper penny is extremely valuable, with circulated examples selling at auction in the past two years bringing between $240,000 and $336,000. The unique 1943-D copper penny is held in a longterm collection and carries an estimated value of over one million dollars.

This rare 1943 Lincoln cent is only 1 of 15 known in the world. Photograph courtesy of The Money Museum. This rare cent is one of approximately 15 examples found in circulation. Known as error coins, these rare pennies were made using copper instead of zinc, and were never intended to be struck.

The easiest way to determine if a 1943 cent is made of steel, and not copper, is to use a magnet. If it sticks to the magnet, it is not copper. If it does not stick, the coin might be of copper and should be authenticated by an expert.

According to Lukes, there are 17 1943 Bronze Cents known (10 from Philadelphia, six from San Francisco, and one from Denver); this conflicts with another census that lists 12 from Philadelphia.