If the coin has not been re-plated, the difference should be obvious to look at. The zinc-coated coins will be grayish in color rather than coppery. However, a lot of people create fake 1943 copper coins by re-plating a steel cent with copper. If you remember back to elementary school science class, copper is not attracted to a magnet, but steel is. Use a small magnet to test your coin. AFAIK all genuine copper 1943 cents are accounted for and in collections somewhere, so if yours appears to be copper I'm willing to guess it will turn out to be plated, unfortunately.
The 1943 steel cent is so common and low in value that no one bothers making fakes. It's the COPPER '43 that has fakes out there. A genuine steel penny is magnetic.
Test it with a magnet. 1943 steel cents are magnetic. 1944 copper cents are not.
All but about 1 to 2 dozen 1943 cents were made of steel. The ones made of copper were accidentally struck on leftover blanks intended for 1942 cents. Average prices for circulated 1943 steel cents range from 20 to 35 cents.
The only magnetic US coin is the 1943 steel cent. All other wheat pennies are made of copper, which is not magnetic.
The vast, vast, vast, majority of 1944 pennies are copper. If it sticks to a magnet it /might/ be steel, though you'd have to take it to an expert to make sure it wasn't altered from a steel 1943 penny.
The 1943 US cent was made of steel with a zinc coating to prevent rust and weighed 2.70 grams. The cent of today is composed of 99.2 % zinc and 0.8 copper with a plating of pure copper and weighs 2.5 grams.
The 1943 Lincoln cent is zinc coated steel not nickel and copper.
-In 1943, pennies were made out of steel instead of copper. A 1943 pure copper penny is a rare mint error, and is worth lots.
The 1943 penny was not made with copper, like all other years. Copper was funneled to the War Department so the 1943 penny was made from steel and other compounds.
1943. In 1943, to save copper for the war effort pennies were struck in zinc coated steel, however some copper blanks made their way into the press and were struck by accident, there are only a handful of known genuine examples of a copper 1943 penny and they can be worth in excess of 1 million dollars. However, steel 1943 pennies are incredibly common and are worth about 5 cents in circulated condition or a buck or two if uncirculated. An easy way to check if you have a steel or a copper penny is to hold a magnet up to it, the magnet will stick to the steel penny and not the copper penny.
A 1942 copper penny is worth between $0.15 and $3.00. If you have a 1943 copper penny it is worth a lot more. In 1943 because of the war and the need for copper pennies in that year were made from steel. Steel pennies from 1943 are worth around $0.30 and $2.50. If you have a real 1943 copper penny take it to a coin shop or dealer and have them check it out to see if it is real.
The original composition is steel not copper, many have been copper plated.
There isn't a "steel copper" penny. US cents were made of steel - but no copper - during 1943 to conserve copper for use in ammunition. Up till 1982 other dates of cents were made of a bronze alloy that was 95% copper, but no steel. A few 1943 cents were struck in bronze by accident but these are very rare and none have been found in many years.
There were over a billion pennies minted in 1943 out of steel coated with zinc. In circulated condition, they'er worth about 5 cents. What you are probably confusing this with is the rare 1943 COPPER penny. A few dozen of these were accidently made in 1943 from old copper blanks. These sell for tens of thousands of dollars. They are also highly counterfeited -- usually by copper plating a steel 1943 cent -- check with a magnet to eliminate 99% of the fakes (a real one will not stick to a magnet).
1943 pennies are not silver. They are zinc coated steel. Copper was saved for war effort.
Take it to a coin shop and there are books showing coins and their value.
Neither the original copper or the newer version copper-zinc penny is magnetic. The 1943 steel penny was the only penny effected by a magnet.