simplynewt's 1943 P Lincoln Wheat Cent Small Cents : Steel Cent

What this coin looks like (obverse, reverse, mint mark location, special features, etc.):


1943 Lincoln Wheat Cents look like "silver pennies" but they are actually made out of steel. During World War 2: The US needed to allocate as much copper as possible for the war effort and this included copper used for minting Lincoln Cents at the US Mint. Zinc-coated steel was used as the substitute metal composition and hence the new silver-like coin is known as the wartime steel cent or steel penny.

Coin valuation chart: Typical coin prices, values and worth per grade or condition - in USD

Good (G-4)	Very Good (VG-8)	Fine (F-12)	Very Fine (VF-20)	Extremely Fine (EF-40)	About Uncirculated (AU-50)	Uncirculated (MS-60)	Uncirculated (MS-65)	Proof (PR-65)
0.18	0.23	0.35	0.41	0.47	0.59	2.98	9.69	-

MELT VALUE: $0.0006