When did the U.S. mint steel pennies?

Answer by  amswplusone (652)

In 1943, during the height of World War 2, the US needed as much copper as possible to make military supplies like shell casings, bullet jackets, etc. So the US Mint decided to use scrap steel coated in Zinc for that year. By 1944, there was a steady enough supply of copper that the problematic "steelies" were discontinued.

Answer by  Stotto68 (55)

Steel pennies were minted in 1943 due to a shortage of copper caused by the war effort. They were minted at all three mints. There are copper plated counterfeits of this cent. Using a magnet will spot a fake. Also some steel pennies were minted in 1944 in error. These are much rarer than the 1943 issue and are valuable.

Answer by  Lottadogs (1258)

In the United States steel pennies were minted as a war time economy measure in 1943. The war effort consumed a great deal of copper so that producing copper pennies was a waste of the available materials. Changing the pennies to be the more abundantly available and less costly steel resolved the problem.

Answer by  Michele13 (1188)

Most "steel" pennies were minted in the U.S. in 1943,due to wartime demand for copper.These were actually zinc-coated brass.A few were minted in 1944.

Answer by  g33k (22)

The US mint made steel pennies in 1943 at all three U.S mints this was done because the copper used to make pennies was scarce and most of the copper was used in the war effort (WW 2). This was only done for one year and these pennies can be found in collections and various coin shops.

Answer by  JohnC (131)

The United States minted steel pennies during World War II due to a shortage of copper, the metal usually used to make the coins. The pennies were only produced in 1943 and 1944.