Expert: Jim Lawniczak - 7/10/2007

Question
I have a steel penny. It has a partial date on it. 19  nothing else then a D under the 19. I would appreciate any information you could give on this coin.

Answer
Hello, Marsha, the zinc covered steel cents were made only in 1943.  There were substantial numbers made in Denver, so yours had to have been a 1943D.  It is possible that your piece was weakly struck at the date so that the "43" didn't strike up, or that there was some material like loose lint from a cleaning rag that got in the way of the date fully striking, or that someone tooled off the "43" of the date after it was struck (little boys like to play with things) -- if the latter was the case, you should be able to see some evidence of the tooling marks on your piece.  It isn't terrible rare, and based on my limited experience with error coins, probably not all that valuable.  Jim Lawniczak