He showed the 1943 copper penny to the Director of the San Francisco Mint in 1948, who gave him the private opinion that it was genuine. A 1957 attempt by Wing’s father to have the coin examined by the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., resulted in a referral to the Smithsonian Institution.
Why are the planchets of the 1943 Penny rusting?
As the zinc coating wore off the steel core the exposed steel underneath began to rust. The manufacturing process for producing the planchets was also flawed. Mint workers first rolled a sheet of steel to the proper thickness. Next, the steel sheet was plated with zinc and passed through a blanking press.
What was the silver penny made of in World War 2?
The 1943 silver colored penny is a wartime coin issue made of steel and coated with zinc. During World War II, the war effort required a lot of copper to make shell casings and munitions.
