Toned 1943 Lincoln
MJPHELAN
Posts: 800 ✭✭✭
I bought this from a dealer in the Tampa area about 2 years ago. I told him I thought it looked AT. He showed me the bank roll from which it came, and all the coins were toned the same way. He felt it was the wrapper that toned them. I did not think it would grade at PCGS (came back altered surfaces). Neat looking coin though.
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Mark
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I have a couple rolls of these frosty and toned steelies with much sharper details than those of the coin in your image. (Yours appears to be a replated EF, with what appears to be significant wear on the usual high spots both obverse and reverse.) Somebody spent a lot of time electroplating coins that have little or no wear but apparently had lost their original surfaces. I suspect that the dealer from whom you acquired the coin didn't really believe that these were toned by a wrapper.
A couple of giveaways on these reprocessed steelies are: 1) pretty "new zinc" surfaces on points of obvious wear; and 2) pretty "new zinc" surfaces that lie on top of little bits of dirt never removed from the surface of the coin before replating. (Check out the thin line connecting the "O" of "ONE" to the "U" in "Pluribus" on the reverse of your coin, and check the fields for tiny little bumps where the coin's surface should be smooth.)
Many of the coins in my two or three rolls of these exhibit strong uncirculated detail, but the color of the replated surface is off--and often includes the irridescent colors that are so vivid on yours. I have another roll of really nice original 1943s in choice and gem BU, and the difference in their surfaces and those of cents like the one you posted is quite dramatic. As my rosetta stone, I purchased a PCGS MS-66, which also helps me to resist the recurring temptation to believe that my nice reprocessed rolls are legit.
I've been tempted to send in to PCGS one or two of the most impressive of these in my possession (especially some nicer Ds and Ss), but my most trusted local dealer has assured me they'd get body-bagged. You've now laid the idea completely to rest for me. The "frosty" ones that with the toning are, unfortunately, altered.
I agree that they are very neat-looking coins, so I'm hanging on to my steel rainbow rolls even though I know they'll never slab with PCGS.
Thanks for the post!
<< <i> IMHO what you've posted is a particularly vivid example of the rainbow toning that some reprocessed 1943 cents possess >>
I was thinking the same thing. Take a look at Lincoln's cheekbone. It looks too flat for the coin to be MS. I suspect it's an AU coin that has been reprocessed.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JZQFDP9c8bE3RvzF9
Tough coin to take a photo of, as the color is very faint and is overpowered in a 'luster' shot.
Lincoln set Colorless Set
Afterall, as referenced in the 1982 unplated Lincoln thread, a 'RD' designation on a steel cent simply refers to it being untoned, or original mint color.
I don't buy that, I think it's simply mechanical error when 'RD' is designated on a steel cent. ALL 1943's would have a color designation on them if that were the case. I've never seen one in person, ever.
Lincoln set Colorless Set