Considered one of the rarest error mintings in American numismatic history, the 1943-S Lincoln cent has been put up for auction by Stack’s Bowers Galleries. The coin, which has been graded AU-55 by PCGS and approved at the Gold level by CAC, is among the pieces closely watched in the collector market.
The emergence of 1943 bronze cents dates back to production conditions during the Second World War. Due to the need for copper, the US Mint turned to zinc-coated steel planchets for cent production that year. However, as a result of some bronze planchets remaining in the facilities being accidentally minted with the 1943 date, a very limited number of error coins entered circulation.
According to Newman Numismatic Portal records, 17 of the known 1943 bronze cents have been verified as Philadelphia mints, 7 as San Francisco, and 1 as Denver. The 1943-S Lincoln cent up for sale is one of the 7 known examples produced in San Francisco.
Error mintings in this series also draw attention with the high prices they have reached in past auctions. The only 1943-D bronze cent produced at the Denver facility was sold for 840 thousand dollars at a Heritage Auctions sale in January 2021. This amount corresponds to approximately 41.3 million liras at the current exchange rate.
In the auction market, the value of such rare coins is determined by factors such as condition grade, mint mark, visual state, and provenance. As the 1943-S Lincoln cent is among the limited known examples, it is expected to attract the interest of collectors.
News Source: 12punto
