Somewhere out there, an ordinary-looking penny may be worth a small fortune. It has likely passed through countless hands over the decades, dropped into jars, lost in couch cushions, or spent without a second thought. That coin is the legendary 1943 Bronze Lincoln Cent, and its owner may have no idea what they’re holding… Continue Reading
One wartime minting mistake created a coin so rare that a single cent could still be sitting unnoticed in someone’s spare change today.
The Wartime Minting Mistake
During World War II, the U.S. Mint switched pennies from copper to steel in order to conserve metal for the war effort. But in 1943, a small number of leftover bronze blanks were accidentally fed into the presses alongside the new steel ones.
The result was a tiny batch of bronze pennies struck in a year when they technically shouldn’t have existed. When the first examples surfaced in circulation in 1947, they triggered a national sensation, complete with newspaper coverage and frantic searches through pocket change.
