A 1943 penny that sticks to a magnet is a standard, common steel penny, made to save copper during WWII, and is typically worth only a few cents to a dollar, not a fortune. The rare, valuable 1943 pennies are the ones that don't stick to a magnet (made of copper), which are extremely rare errors worth thousands, but many fakes exist, so the magnetic steel version confirms yours is a regular coin.
The value of a 1943 steel penny, as of 2025, typically ranges from 20 cents to $20, depending on its condition and mint mark. Rare error coins, like the 1943-D steel penny with a doubled mintmark, can be worth several hundred dollars.
The fact that it sticks to a magnet is all you need to know that it is a steel cent. A copper cent would not stick. It is just a damaged coin know that it has been plated.
If a penny sticks to the magnet, check the date. A 1943 circulated penny that sticks is worth 10 cents or so. But a 1944 penny that sticks to the magnet should net you around $40,000. Much more if it's in really good condition.
Pennies and some older coins are magnetic because they contain iron or steel. Dimes, quarters, and most modern coins are not magnetic because they are made of non-magnetic metals.
If it's silvery-gray, it's most likely a common steel cent worth only a small premium. If it's reddish-brown like copper, do a magnet test. If the coin is magnetic, it's steel, possibly plated. If it's not magnetic and clearly dated 1943, it may be a rare copper cent and should be evaluated by a professional.
A lot of people talk about 1943 pennies and that they may have a silver one, and while they may have the right color penny, most of those are zinc plated steel. The famed error for the 1943 penny is the copper one, as the USA switched metals from copper to steel in order to conserve metal for their war effort.
It is estimated that there were 40 1943 copper pennies produced, and of those 40, there are 27 known surviving coins.
Weight Test. Using a kitchen scale that measures to the hundredth of a gram, weigh your penny. If it weighs 2.70 grams, it has the right weight for a 1943 steel penny. If it weighs 3.11 grams, examine the date and look for signs of alterations.
See, some pennies produced in 1943 were mistakenly struck on copper planchets. These alloys consisted of 95% copper and 5% tin. The Mint struck only about 40 of these coins, with only 13 confirmed to exist so far. As of right now, the most valuable copper penny sold for $1.7 million in 2010.
Magnet Test: An authentic copper 1943 cent will not be magnetic, while a steel (even if copper-plated) cent will stick to a magnet. Weight Check: Copper cents from this period should weigh approximately 3.11 grams, whereas steel cents weigh closer to 2.7 grams.
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However, a small amount of 1943 pennies were accidentally struck using the standard copper planchets instead of steel. The tiny mintage of these 1943 Copper Pennies made them one of the scarcest errors in U.S. minting history.
Ways to Identify a Genuine 1943 Copper Penny:
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It's a transitional mint error — struck on leftover copper planchets when the Mint had already switched to zinc. What is the value of a 1982-D Small Date Copper penny? Depending on grade, examples have sold for $10,000 to $25,000+ at major auctions.
The Rare 1943 Penny
If your 1943 penny is made of copper, it is worth quite a bit of money, generally $10,000 or more! The reason is that the 1943 copper penny is an error coin. When striking the coin, the United States Mint accidentally used the wrong planchet metal, but very few of these left the U.S.
Mint, the metal composition of the cent, also known as a penny, was pure copper from 1793 until 1837. The Mint offers a brief chronology on the shift in composition over time.
Unfortunately, when coins have no mint mark it does not make them more valuable. Coins with no mint mark are by default minted in Philadelphia. 684,628,670 steel Pennies were minted at Philadelphia with no mintmark, so each one is worth between $1-2.
Gold is non-magnetic. Therefore, if the material gets attracted to the magnet, it is not real gold. But if it does not get attracted to the magnet, the gold is real.