Lincoln Wheat Steel Cent

Due to wartime needs for copper to make ammunition and other equipment for the military during the second World War, the US Mint looked into ways to limit their dependence on copper. After experimenting with several compounds ranging from other metals to plastics, the one cent coin was minted in zinc-coated steel.

The Lincoln Wheat steel cent was struck in all three US Mints-Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco. Coins from Denver were marked with a D and those from San Francisco carried an S.

Problems began to surface with the steel cents. First, they were often mistaken for dimes. Secondly magnets in vending machines which had accepted copper cents, picked up the steel cents. The magnets in vending machines were in place to pick up steel slugs that less than honest citizens used. Also, sweat was turning the Lincoln Wheat steel cents rusty. The public was very unhappy with the steel cents so the Mint salvaged brass shell casings and they were augmented with pure copper that produced an alloy that was close in nature to the original steel cent.

The Mint quietly told banks to remove the steel cents from circulation whenever they ran across them. There are many stories that have circulated regarding what happened to the 68 million recovered steel pennies. One popular story is that the government dumped them into the Pacific Ocean, but most likely they were melted down by the mint.

The Lincoln Wheat steel cent is the only US coin that can be picked up with a magnet and it was the only coin that does not contain any copper.