Hmmmm.... I have an old roll of '43's that has not been opened.... maybe on these snow days this week, I will open it and see what I have. Cheers, RickO
I've seen several 1943's with die cracks, but this one I really like and bought it for my personal collection. It not only has several die cracks on both sides, but a large retained cud!
Manufacturing defects are not that unusual on steel cents. Steel is harder than bronze and it chewed up the dies faster. That is one of the reason why a genuine 1943 copper cent in high grade should be sharper than bronze cent from another year. It took more pressure to strike the steel cents. Therefore when a copper planchet got between the dies, it got crushed.
Back in the early 1960s I saved every steel cent I ran into in circulation. I ended up with a lot pieces with filled dies and other minting problems. There were two causes of this. First, the greater pressure which cause dies to wear out faster, and second, many of the mint's experienced employees were off to war and substitutes were taking their places.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
LeeBone
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Seems to be a common spot for those reverse dies to give out.
A few of mine
And here's one I've upgraded...
What the heck..
The upgrade
The entertainment can never be overdressed....except in burlesque
bob
The Penny Lady®
Back in the early 1960s I saved every steel cent I ran into in circulation. I ended up with a lot pieces with filled dies and other minting problems. There were two causes of this. First, the greater pressure which cause dies to wear out faster, and second, many of the mint's experienced employees were off to war and substitutes were taking their places.
I've never seen a die break on a steel cent. That's cool.