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1945 Penny, M missing in America?

7 posts in this topic

In many cases, a missing letter is the result of that letter on the die being filled by grease or some other substance.

 

Interesting fact about 1945 cents from NGC Coin Explorer:

"This was the second year of "shellcase" cent production, so called because some of the metal used was obtained from brass cartridge cases recovered from military training facilities."

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14 minutes ago, BronerskyFamilyTrust said:

Thanks Bob. So does this mean that all pennies made in 1944-45 made out of brass? Is this worth my efforts to have graded?

And '46, as well. I don't think that they used shell casings for all of them, though.

As far as having them graded: NGC lists Mint State Lincoln cent prices in brown, red/brown, and red. Full red is the most pricey, since it is most popular and hardest to find. In my opinion, unless your 1945 grades MS67 RED or better, it would not be worth having it graded.

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 That red color on your coin is from something in the environment which colored the coin. A circulated cent like yours will usually be brown, or possibly red/brown, if it is only lightly circulated. Actually, "red" is a bit misleading.  It refers to the original color of the newly minted cent, which is not actually a true red. It may be golden, pinkish, or any variation of red.

 

This is a picture, borrowed from Bill Jones type set, of a Lincoln cent graded MS65 Red by our hosts. Obviously, differences in monitors, phone screens, etc. will show different hues, but on my computer, this coin looks almost gold.

image.png.e42a5ae07b35ad57b0069edcbc09044c.png

 

This picture, from Jason Poe's (physics-fan3.14) prooflike type set, shows a cent, graded MS68 RD Prooflike, which is a completely different color. It is a different composition from the 1909 pictured above, which shows that the "Red" designation is not for a specific color, but more for a state of closeness to the original color.

 

image.png.6f7415800ca95b540441e8c43b1fd022.png

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