1943 Lincoln Centstukken in .640 Silver / Copper from the Fred Weinberg Collection

Zoins

Another coin in my ongoing fascination with 1943 cents. This coin has been in @FredWeinberg's collection for over 20 years and was recently published in CoinWeek and Mint Error News by Mike @Byers .

It's struck on a Curaçao 25 Centstukken planchet weighing 3.6g and is composed of 64% Silver and 36% Copper.

@Byers wrote:

In 1940, Nazi Germany conquered the Netherlands. The Dutch territories of Surinam (in northern South America) and Curaçao (an island in the Caribbean Sea north of Surinam and part of the Netherlands Antilles) were protected by the Allied forces. Subsequently, the U.S. Mints struck coins for these countries during the war.

According to public auction records since World War II (75 years), PCGS and NGC have just authenticated and certified a total of five 1943 Lincoln cents struck from blank planchets from Surinam/Curaçao.

Ref: https://coinweek.com/coins/error-coins/mike-byers-mint-error-news-ngc-certifies-1943-lincoln-cent-struck-on-curacao-25-centstukken-planchet/

ricko

Interesting... did not know about that one.... Is there a backstory? Found in the wild?? Cheers, RickO

FredWeinberg

No backstory - I bought the coin decades ago
in a deal, and decided to keep it.

Sold it to Mike last Sept./Oct.

astrorat

And here I thought "centstukken" was some sort of play on words to describe a new type of striking error!

Byers

Fred- thanks for selling it to me. It’s an exciting Lincoln Cent mint error with the magic 1943 date AND looks copper!

Zoins

Wow. I just saw that this coin is up to $21,500 bid / $25,800 total now with less than a day to go! Any thoughts on final price?

It would be great to get the @FredWeinberg / @Byers provenance on this! Would it qualify for the special Weinberg insert if it was crossed?

Byers

Zions- that’s a very interesting question.
But Fred sold it to me a few months ago when I was in his office. He had owned it and put it away for decades.

Subsequently Fred consigned his mint errors to Heritage, who will auction them with a special pedigree label for Fred from PCGS.

So my guess is that this most likely finest known 1943 Lincoln Cent off-metal stands on its own merit.

As noted in the Heritage listing, a NGC MS 61 with a text cut X in the obverse field realized 24k in Heritage.

So this MS 61 NGC with no test cut X, and so far the finest known of 6 certified, is a very special mint error.

Zoins

It's true that this coin stands on it's own, but that didn't prevent the Sultan of Muscat 1804 dollar from getting a Pogue insert!

And it is an amazing coin.

First of all, it's silver, .640 fine silver, but still silver!

And although there are 5 specimens, it's not only the finest known, it's the only pristine MS example, given the other MS specimen has test cut.

Here's the description:

Heritage wrote:
1943 Cent on a Curacao Planchet
MS61, Rare Off-Metal Error

1943 1C Lincoln Cent -- Struck on a Curacao 25 Cents Planchet -- MS61 NGC. 3.6 grams. The Netherlands were occupied by Germany during World War II, but Allies controlled certain Dutch territories, such as Suriname in South America, and Curacao, a Caribbean island. In 1943, the Philadelphia Mint struck coinage for Suriname and Curacao, in 5, 10, and 25 cent denominations. The 25 cent pieces were struck in 640 Fine silver, with a weight of 3.575 grams and a diameter of 18.5 mm. It was perhaps inevitable that a few of those Dutch territories 25 cent planchets found their way between Lincoln cent dies, given the similar 19 mm diameter of that denomination. But the off-metal combination is rare. We have auctioned only four other examples this millennium, an AU58 PCGS example in our August 2001 Atlanta Signature; a VF Details Damaged ANACS example in our May 2005 Central States Signature; an XF40 NGC example in our November 2013 New York Signature; and an MS61 NGC example in our January 2018 FUN Signature that sold for $24,000. The present lot is likely the finest known, as it lacks the test marks seen on the other MS61 NGC example. The strike is solid, and the mauve and plum-red surfaces are highly pleasing for the designated grade. Perhaps even rarer than the famous 1943 bronze transitional error, yet far more affordable.

Byers

Zions-

Yes it is 64% silver and 36% copper. And it has a similiar look to a copper 1943 Cent which is 200-350k for an AU 58 to a MS 62.

And much rarer than a 1943 Copper Cent since there are only 6 certified. And 3 of the 6 that are certified are damaged!!!!

The 6th one was sold by Bowers and Merena in an ANACS holder VF Details Damaged, realizing $16,675.

So my guess for the finest known of 6 certified and looks similiar to the 1943 Copper Cent is 30k to 40k.

Several of the other 5 look bright silver, and as I mentioned 3 of the other 5 are damaged.

This one in the Platinum Heritage Auction tomorrow is special!

Zoins

Here are the Heritage images which are brighter than the CoinWeek images.

As much I love silver, it's great that this 36% copper cent has a copper look to it given the 1943 date!

Zoins

And here's the Mint Error News cover from earlier.

It's nice that this is a cover coin as well!

https://minterrornews.com/issue58.pdf