1944 Steel Cent Authenticity

Numismaphile

Trying to help a fellow collector. I would like to know whether any of you can confidently rule out authenticity of this 1944-S steel. It's the right weight and sticks to a magnet. My guess is the last digit is altered but invite confirmation. Thank you.

pcgsregistrycollector

From what I see based off of the pictures, the coin looks date altered and coated with steel.

FredWeinberg

Plated, at a minimum….and as mentioned, probably altered.
Not a genuine Steel cent error,imo

JWP

I sent a 1944 cent in for grading and it was returned ungraded due to being plated.
Sometimes these are are hard to tell if they are plated.
It cost me a $20 gradimg fee.

Morgan White

You need better pics than that.

Numismaphile

Thanks, I realize they are not great. I am already concluding the last digit is too high, and the surface is porous; we think someone altered a 1943 and then plated it to brighten it up.

PerryHall

@pcgsregistrycollector said:
From what I see based off of the pictures, the coin looks date altered and coated with steel.

The steel planchets used by the US Mint to strike the 1943 cents were zinc plated steel so the subject altered date cent was probably zinc plated to hide the alteration and to give it a uniform color.

jonathanb

@JWP said:
Sometimes these are are hard to tell if they are plated.

Plated copper is nonmagnetic, or at most weakly magnetic. I can't think of a situation where it would be hard to tell if a copper example was plated.

Numismaphile

Thank you everyone, on behalf of the poor fellow who paid $300 for this. We are helping him get a refund.