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During the early 1970s, the price of copper rose to the point where the cent contained almost one cent's worth of copper. This led the Mint to test alternative metals, including aluminum and bronze-clad steel. Aluminum was chosen, and over 1.5 million samples of the 1974 aluminum cent were struck before ultimately being rejected.
Originally struck in 95% copper, the cent coin was changed for one year to zinc-coated steel in 1943 as copper was needed to aid in the war effort. The mint then reverted to 95% copper until 1982, when inflation made copper too expensive and the composition was changed to zinc with an outer copper layer.
In it, the Mint declared that plated zinc products did not hold up to steam/wear tests and were rejected for U.S. coins other than the penny. Materials considered "feasible" for the 5-cent coin were nickel-plated steel, multi-ply-plated steel, and potentially another copper/nickel alloy, this time with ~77% copper, ~20% nickel, and ~3% manganese.
And yet, the temptation remains. Whereas the U.S. replaced almost all copper content in the penny with zinc in 1982 (nickels today contain more copper than pennies), up in Canada they kept on ...
The 1944-D Lincoln penny is also referred to as steel pennies or silver pennies. In 1944, pennies were supposed to transition from steal back to copper. These pennies were mistakenly minted using ...
Zinc can cause anemia or gastric ulceration in babies that inadvertently ingest pennies made after 1982. A single penny can kill a pet. [29] Also, the mining of zinc and copper causes toxic pollution and is especially undesirable when considering the valuable metals being used to produce a coin with little utility. [citation needed]
But just as coin collectors did with quarters and dimes after 1964, when the coins went from being 90% silver to a copper-nickel blend, some intrepid entrepreneurs have now started bagging up old ...
1943 steel cents are U.S. one-cent coins that were struck in steel due to wartime shortages of copper. The Philadelphia , Denver , and San Francisco mints each produced these 1943 Lincoln cents . The unique composition of the coin ( low-grade steel coated with zinc , instead of the previously 95%-copper-based bronze composition) has led to ...