Coin tools
Error coins: which varieties to look for and how to check
Pick a known variety. The tool tells you what to look for on the coin and how many coins of the whole issue were struck, since the Mint does not count errors apart.
Known varieties: what to check
Look for
Not attracted by a magnet and about 3.1 g; a normal 1943 cent is steel, sticks to a magnet and weighs about 2.7 g.
| All 1943 cent (penny) coins struck | 684,628,670 |
| Mintage band of that issue | Very high mintage (over 200 million) |
The Mint does not count varieties apart: the figure is the whole issue they hide in. Only an authentication service can confirm one.
An error coin is a coin that left the Mint different from the design, through a fault in the die, the blank or the striking. Most errors are minor and common, but a handful of varieties are famous enough that collectors search change for them. The Mint itself acknowledges the best known: its anatomy of a coin page notes that a few 1943 cents were struck in copper by accident, when that year’s cents were made of zinc-coated steel. Doubled dies, such as the cents of 1955 and 1972, show every letter of the date and motto twice. Others come from worn or filled dies, like the 1922 cent with no D. The Mint does not publish how many of any variety exist, so this page gives the figure for the whole issue the variety hides in, read in the Bureau of the Mint tables, and says plainly what to check. Only an authentication service can confirm a find.
Is my 1943 penny steel or copper?
Your 1943 cent is
zinc-coated steel, the normal 1943 cent
| Steel cent weight | 2.70 g |
| Bronze cent weight | 3.11 g |
| 1943 cents struck, all mints | 1,093,838,670 |
The Mint says a few 1943 cents were struck in copper by accident and are highly valuable; copper-plated steel fakes exist, and a magnet catches them.
Mintages, metals and prices read by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Known varieties and the issues they hide in
| Variety | What to check | Whole issue struck |
|---|---|---|
| 1943 copper cent | not magnetic, about 3.1 g | 684,628,670 |
| 1944 steel cent | sticks to a magnet | 1,435,400,000 |
| 1955 doubled die cent | strong doubling of date and LIBERTY, no mint mark | 330,958,200 |
| 1972 doubled die cent | doubling of LIBERTY, motto and date, no mint mark | 2,933,255,000 |
| 1909-S VDB cent | S under the date, VDB on the reverse | 2,618,000 (all 1909-S cents) |
| 1922 cent, no D | no mint mark on a 1922 cent | 7,160,000 (Denver) |
| 1937-D three-legged Buffalo | bison missing a front leg | 17,826,000 |
| 1942/1 Mercury dime | a 1 under the final 2 | 205,432,329 |
| 2004-D Wisconsin extra leaf | extra leaf left of the corn | 226,800,000 |
The tool at the top of the page shows the same checks one variety at a time, with the mintage band of the host issue. A variety from a large issue is still rare, because only a few dies were affected; the figure simply shows how many ordinary coins you will sort through to find one.
The 1943 cent: a test anyone can do
Cents dated 1943 were struck in zinc-coated steel, 2.70 grams, to save copper during the war. The few struck on leftover bronze blanks of 3.11 grams are the best-known US error, and copies are common. A magnet and a kitchen scale reading to a hundredth of a gram eliminate most of them in a minute. The tool below runs that test.
Is my 1943 penny steel or copper?
Your 1943 cent is
zinc-coated steel, the normal 1943 cent
| Steel cent weight | 2.70 g |
| Bronze cent weight | 3.11 g |
| 1943 cents struck, all mints | 1,093,838,670 |
The Mint says a few 1943 cents were struck in copper by accident and are highly valuable; copper-plated steel fakes exist, and a magnet catches them.
The reverse error exists for 1944: a few cents struck on steel blanks left over from 1943. A magnet finds those too, since a normal 1944 cent is bronze and is not attracted.
Kinds of errors you may meet
- Die varieties: the die itself was different, so every coin it struck carries the feature. Doubled dies, overdates such as 1942/1 and missing details belong here.
- Planchet errors: the blank was wrong. Wrong metal, as in 1943 and 1944, clipped blanks with a curved bite, and laminations where a layer peels.
- Striking errors: the press misbehaved. Off-center strikes, double strikes and brockages, where a struck coin pressed its image into the next one.
Damage after the coin left the Mint is not an error: a coin squeezed in a vise, plated, cut or worn on a conveyor has no collector interest. A coin that looks too strange to be real often is just that.
What to do with a suspected error
Stop handling it, store it apart, and do not clean it. Compare it with the descriptions above and with the grading guide to judge its condition. Weigh it against the Mint’s published specifications where relevant. Only then consider an authentication service, and weigh its fee against what the coin could be worth. No dealer, auction or forum figure is quoted on this site, because no official source publishes one.