2017-05-05 Fri

A rare group of four 1942 and 1943 Lincoln Cents struck on the wrong planchets were recently graded by NGC, one of which is the popular error coin - 1943 bronze (“copper”) cent.

Zinc-coated steel was used for minting Lincoln Cents instead of bronze or “copper” composition to preserve copper for the war effort. Some bronze planchets were struck using 1943-dated dies. This created a lot of excitement amongst collectors for these 1943 bronze cents. Experts believed that only 10-12 Philadelphia 1943 bronze cents exist, which was proved wrong by the latest discovery.

The new coins discovered were NGC MS 62 BN and NGC MS 61 BN, out of which the MS 62 BN is the second-finest coin of this type certified by NGC. The second one has a huge die break on the obverse.

A 1942 cent struck on an Ecuador 20 Centavos planchet, graded MS 63 and a 1943 cent on a Netherlands 25 cent planchet, graded MS 61 were also submitted. They were struck on planchets that were supposed to be used for foreign coins at Philadelphia Mint.

The coins were submitted by the family of former US Mint employee Albert Michael Pratt at the West Hernando Coin Club coin show in January 2017.