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L1011
Penny Collector Member
310 Posts |
 Posted - 09/08/2009 : 13:01:28
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This may have been posted, or some of you guys might have seen it, I thought it was an interesting story, and I surely thought a 1943 Cu Cent would be worth more than this....
"A Penny Says 1943 Was a Very Good Year
From all accounts Ken Wing was a typical kid. Born in 1930, his childhood invariably revolved around World War II. Back then, young children lived for newsreels detailing accounts of the war. Many boys diligently studied aircraft silhouettes in the event of an attack. Wing was surely one of them considering he lived in Long Beach, Calif., — one of the closest U.S. cities to Japan.
As a distraction from the war, and long before television and the Internet, young boys would also spend hours searching through pocket change and rolls of coins to add to their collection. Pennies were the primary focus. They were both cheap and valuable. In the 1940s, they were the lowest denomination coin, but you could still buy things with them.
Pennies also got increased attention because in 1943, the government stopped using copper to produce them. It was needed for the war effort, so for that year they were minted out of steel. According to Leland Howard, then Acting Director of the Mint, "No 1943 copper coins were produced." As Ken Wing discovered that wasn't quite the case.
In 1944, when Wing was 14, he found a copper 1943 penny in change. It had been minted in San Francisco. He took it to a local coin dealer who offered him $500. Wing decided to keep the coin for his collection. It proved to be a lucky move. Luckier still was when he found it.
Today, it's not uncommon to see a 1943 "copper" cent. But, they're rarely authentic. A dozen or so genuine copper 1943 cents have surfaced — invariably because a only handful of blank copper planchets made their way into minting machines.
However, because of the scarcity of the coins, in the 1950s and '60s, some people took rolls of the 1942 steel pennies and had them coated in copper. Happily, the ruse is easily detectable. By holding a simple magnet near a steel cent — even one that's coated in copper — it will stick. Pure copper pennies won't. And, back in 1944, when Wing found the coin, few if any people had thought about coating steel pennies with copper.
Over the years, Wing went on to be successful. He became a prominent architect and was a designer of the Long Beach Arena. Until his death in 1996, the coin collection of his youth sat undisturbed in a safe deposit box.
When his heirs decided to check out the collection they contacted Steve Contursi of Rare Coin Wholesalers. Understandably, when Contursi initially examined the coin he, too, believed it to be a fake. Then he tried the magnet test. It passed. So he submitted it to the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation for authentication. They agreed it was genuine and certified it as such.
There was one more thing. The coin Wing found was minted in San Francisco. The dozen or so other genuine 1943 copper cents were minted in Philadelphia. Only one or two from the San Francisco Mint have ever surfaced.
A few weeks ago, the family sold the coin for the handsome sum of $72,500. Not a bad return for a penny found by a young boy looking for a distraction during a time of war. Are there other genuine 1943 copper cents out there waiting to be found? I'd bet on it.
*Editor's Note: A JPEG visual of the rare 1943-S copper cent has been sent with this column.
To find out more about Peter Rexford and to read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at You must be logged in to see this link.
COPYRIGHT 2007 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC."
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fasteddy
Penny Collector Member
USA
298 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2009 : 14:21:42
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| so he was offered 500 $ in 1944 and turned it down....Yeah right I think the story is bogus or parts of it are bogus. He could have bought a car with that money or food for his family during the war. |
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L1011
Penny Collector Member
310 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2009 : 16:03:33
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| $500 in 1944 Dollars would be worth about $6100 in 2009 Dollars, I don't know, maybe he thought if someone would give him $500 then, it may be better to hold on to it, I sure thought a 1943 Cu would be worth more than $72,500, and this was even more rare, an "S" mint... |
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daviscfad
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1664 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2009 : 17:26:27
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| i would too L1011. I thought the philly ones sold for 200,000 or so?!?! |
Inquiring minds want to know |
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L1011
Penny Collector Member
310 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2009 : 19:41:01
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quote:
Originally posted by daviscfad
i would too L1011. I thought the philly ones sold for 200,000 or so?!?!
I haven't researched it, but I was thinking the same, somewhere around the $200k mark.... |
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fb101
Administrator
USA
2856 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2009 : 20:08:17
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I don't know about the standard inflation gauges, but in a year when the average house sold for about $4000 (unadjusted), he was offered 12.5% of the price of a good house.
You must be logged in to see this link. |
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L1011
Penny Collector Member
310 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2009 : 21:46:42
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quote:
Originally posted by fb101
I don't know about the standard inflation gauges, but in a year when the average house sold for about $4000 (unadjusted), he was offered 12.5% of the price of a good house.
You must be logged in to see this link.
Want a laugh? look at some of these prices:
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If he had taken the $500 for the '43 Cent, he would've done very well in the market, according to this site it was 136...lol |
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Tourney64
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1035 Posts |
Posted - 09/09/2009 : 19:02:50
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I agree it seems like it should have been worth much more. Some questions -
What shape what it in?
Who bought it?
Was it sold at an auction or was the coin sold to someone at a ridiculous low price because the family didn't know the value? |
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just carl
Penny Hoarding Member
USA
601 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2009 : 17:04:22
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As noted there is no mention of the grade of that coin. That is odd in itself for such a long article. If it was actually graded and slabbed by NGC, then there should have been something said of the condition.
Looks like just one more of the many, many stories of rare coins. I still like the one that floated around about a kid at a gas station that got a 1913 Liberty Head Nickel from someone for gas. |
Carl |
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1943 Cu Cent
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