The "Oopsies" of the 1943 Steel Penny

The general population of the United States in 1943 disliked the 1943 steel penny. Mainly the reason being that the 1943 steel penny was often mistaken for a dime and there was some cases of 9 cent mistakes being made. In 1943, nine cents was a much greater amount than today and you can understand the hurt of these mistakes that were often made with the poorly made 1943 steel penny.

Lead and steel was a bad combination of metals and these pennies would corrode rather quickly in moist atmospheres or from your very own body oils. Vending machines also experienced the horror of the 1943 steel penny. Being the only piece of currency in American history that can be picked up via magnet, these legitimate coins were confused for steel slugs that the magnets protected against.

As if the US Mint didn't screw up enough with the penny in 1943, some copper planchets were left in the press machines used to produce the now new 1943 steel penny. One of these, discovered in 1958, was sold for $40,000 and another sold in 2004 for over $200,000.

The copper 1943 penny is often a product of counterfeiters.