Do you think will steel coins will appear again if a war comes???

Coqui

Do you think steel cent will be minted if a war comes?

fcloud

Coqui,

Welcome to the boards.

The simple answer is no. Cents are now made from zinc--not copper, we shouldn't huge reserves of zinc.

prooflike

No, steel is a more vital wartime metal than zinc... a steel nickel, hmmm.... nahh..

nwcs

If anything, the cent might have a composition change to aluminum. But that's extremely unlikely. They'd change the copper-nickel clads first. And they won't do that, likely, either.

coppercoins

Pretty simply put, it's not 1940 - wartime machinery has changed greatly since then, and very few brass shells are used any more - at least compared to WWII. The major usage of brass then was on naval vessels, and since Iraq doesn't have a navy, our usage of naval vessels will mostly be confined to long range missiles and aircraft carriers - neither of which expend large amounts of brass.

baccaruda

i'm not sure how dependent the army is on copper shell casings anymore either.

DanC

"IF"?

itsnotjustme

Wecome to the boards.

No, but if we are lucky they will discontinue the cent!

Cam40

I guess I,d say no also. This is a different day from 1943.We probably dont rely on the need for copper as we did then for weapons and shellcases.

Coqui

I was just curious if this phenomenom will happen some day again..

Cam40

No, but if we are lucky they will discontinue the cent!
Brian? Do this.Stick your tongue out.Now bite down really hard.......lol

Coqui

ab... they are not going to discontinue the cent,, it will just be redisgned.

DanC

We "probably" have a better handle on our strategic resources than back in those days... but hey-- who knows?

The "if" question is more appropriately the "when" question.
Our direction seems cast in stone.

Can't say I lament the decision - but what effect it will have - remains to be seen.
Certainly "saddam"

- said "Sad - um" (which in Farsi means "little boy") God bless GHW Bush, who first coined the phrase

as I was saying... "saddam" needs to be a memory. Not as much for "our" sakes, as for the sake of the people of Iraq. Most of whom are good, decent people who don't deserve a despot.

.off_my_soapbox.

Coqui

Dan.... I said "if" becuase I still have hope it will not happened, I am not from Usa, I am from Puerto Rico and my brothers will be called if the war starts, thats why i said "IF", but you are totally right

DanC

Coqui,

As one who has recently visited your wonderful homeland.... I concur.

I wish it were not so. It will however BE so... as it has been decided long ago.
Puerto Rico is not apart from the US... it SHOULD be State number 51.

If your brothers are called... I'm certain they will prove to be honorable, and brave men.
My hope and wish is that they return to you unscathed.

itsnotjustme

<< <i>Brian? Do this.Stick your tongue out.Now bite down really hard >>


Ouch!

smprfi

Most casings are brass.

DanC

<< <i>Most casings are brass. >>



... as it should be. Booyah!

BandBCollectible

WERWER

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DanC

<< <i>WERWER >>



OK... and this means specifically what?

clackamas

No, steel coins would be more expensive than the cheap metal they make cents from now. Steel also corrodes more easily than the copper/zinc cents. The reason steel was used during WWII was because they needed the copper to make shell casings for rifle and artillery shells. Today they make smart bombs made from steel and some very minor ammounts of silicon in the form of chips.

dorkkarl

<< <i>Do you think will steel coins will appear again if a war comes??? >>

no, but PLASTIC wouldn't surprise me 1 bit!

K S

Petescorner

What if they developed a gun that fired Susan B. Anthony dollars?! Then, how would the collecting community feel?