What is a 1940 Penny made of?

The 1940 penny is made of bronze – 95 per cent copper, with the remainder a mixture of tin and zinc. It weighs 3.11 grams and is 19 millimeters in diameter. Because of the high copper content, there’s considerable variation in the color of individual 1940 pennies. These may be graded either red, red and brown, or brown.

Was a 1944 Penny a copper penny?

The 1944 steel penny has just about as much interest swirling around it as does the 1943 copper penny — an error coin of the opposite kind. In this case, brass Lincoln cent planchets from 1942 likely remained in the coin hoppers and were fed down the line to be stamped with 1943 Lincoln cent dies!

What year were steel pennies made?

Steel pennies are Lincoln Wheat cents made in 1943. That year, the U.S. Mint made pennies out of steel in order to conserve copper for the war effort in World War II. In 1944 the mint went back to making pennies with the normal copper composition. There are few vintage coins as widely collected as the 1943 steel Lincoln penny.