1943. See Related Links for a picture and some history.
The U.S. started making 1 cent coins in 1793. However, the first pennies (i.e. the coins that are really called pennies, not nicknamed) were minted in England as far back as the 8th century AD.
In 2011, the U.S. Mint produced 4,938,540,000 pennies.
1,000,000
lots
15 year old pennies are essentially the same size as those minted today. You'd have to go back to 1857 to find pennies that were significantly larger.
Copper shortage in world war 2
it all depends on what year it is
they still make pennies
The last year for wheat pennies was 1958.
All of them were supposed to be made of steel, however there were a few copper coins accidentally struck that year. Its extremely rare to come across copper pennies from that year.
The steel coating on the 1943 penny was implemented due to the shortage of copper during World War II. Copper was needed for making ammunition and other war supplies, so the U.S. Mint switched to using zinc-coated steel for pennies that year.
The materials used to mint pennies has changed. Originally, pennies were made of almost pure copper. Today, British pennies are made of nickel/steel blanks coated in copper, and US "pennies" (actually cents) are made of zinc blanks coated in copper.
Well . . . there have never been any silver pennies minted in the US, so you must be talking about the steel pennies. As far as I know, 1943 was the only year that steel pennies, or 'steelies', were minted.
Because they are error coins. 1943 was the only year that the US intentionally minted steel cents, those coins are not rare and only fetch a few cents or a dollar or two. 1944 steel cents are error coins and were not intentionally struck, rather, steel blanks were left in the machine used to strike pennies and they were struck in steel rather than copper. Other 1944 pennies are made out of copper and are not rare and they only fetch a few cents.
they stoper making it in 1958
American pennies have been copper in every year except 1943, when copper was scarce and pennies were made of steel. These days, pennies are more zinc than copper.
There are no exact records of the number of copper pennies made in 1943. It was about 40. Most pennies that year were made of steel.