History of the 1943 Steel Penny

During 1943, the United States was involved in a war. You may know this war by the name World War II. During World War II, there was a massive shortage of copper. Copper was the main ingredient for many artillery supplies in the war. However, it was also the main ingredient for the American penny. Because of this, the US Mint was forced to temporarily halt the production of pennies using copper! The US Mint decided to switch to steel, instead. There was enough copper saved by this decision to produce over 1.2 million shell casings for the US military. Hence, the 1943 steel penny.