1943 Error Lincoln 1 cent, PCGS AU58. Struck on Silver Dime Planchet PCGS AU58 Treasured by collectors and error specialists alike, any off-metal 1943 cent is indeed special. The present coin was struck on a blank intended for use as a silver dime. Apparently a mint worker allowed a dime planchet to enter the hopper with the zinc blanks used to strike the 1943’s. The coin shows some mint luster remaining and a trace of wear on its highest points, accounting for the AU58 grade. Because of the difference in the thickness and size of the two planchets, the strike shows expected weakness. In this case it is on the left side and top of both the obverse and reverse.

Because of the shortage of copper during World War II, zinc-coated steel was substituted for copper in the one cent coinage of 1943. In transferring planchets from one part of the mint to another, large bins or hoppers were used. Occasionally a blank from the previous coinage would get stuck in a seam of the bin. If subsequently dislodged, it would join the planchets for the new coins, and this type of error would be created.

Because it is a one-year metal type, and a few 1943 cents were struck by error in copper, collectors and error specialists are always interested in any off-metal 1943 cent. In 1944 the bronze Type 1 cents resumed using cartridge cases that were salvaged from the war.

The Lincoln cent, which was originally minted as a circulating commemorative to honor the 100th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, was designed Victor D. Brenner, whose initials first appeared on the reverse of the coin at the bottom edge below the wheat ears. By 1943 Brenner’s initials had been moved to Lincoln’s shoulder next to the rim.