HISTORY
Steel Penny
Move your cursor over the coin or tap it on your screen to see the reverse side.
- In December 1942, Congress approved a one-cent coin that would conserve copper. The Mint selected zinc-coated steel as the substitute material.
- Steel penny production saved enough copper to manufacture 1.25 million shells for American big-field guns during wartime.
- The 1943 steel penny is the only regular American coin that a magnet can pick up.
- About 40 copper pennies were minted in 1943, when copper blanks were accidentally left in the production hopper.