United States | |
| Value | $0.01 U.S. dollars |
|---|---|
| Mass | 2.702 g |
| Diameter | 19.05 mm |
| Thickness | 1.55 mm |
| Edge | Plain |
| Composition | 99% steel with a thin layer of zinc |
| Years of minting | 1943 |
| Catalog number | - |
| Obverse | |
| Design | Abraham Lincoln |
| Designer | Victor D. Brenner |
| Design date | 1909 |
| Reverse | |
| Design | Wheat Heads in memoria |
| Designer | Victor D. Brenner |
| Design date | 1909 |
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1943 steel cents are U.S. one-cent coins that were struck in steel due to wartime shortages of copper. The Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco mints each produced these 1943 Lincoln cents. The unique composition of the coin (low-grade steel coated with zinc, instead of the previously 95%-copper-based bronze composition) has led to various nicknames, such as wartime cent, steel war penny, zinc cent and steelie. The 1943 steel cent features the same Victor David Brenner design for the Lincoln cent which had been in use since 1909.