1943-S Steel Wheat Penny Value

1943-S Steel Lincoln Cent

Wartime cents were made of zinc-coated steel to conserve copper.

1943 steel pennies are often searched as silver, iron, lead or tin pennies. They are zinc-coated steel: silver-grey, about 2.70 g and attracted to a magnet. They contain no silver.

1943-S Steel Wheat Penny: front (type example, 1943 steel cent) — Type example: 1943 steel cent. Your coin's date and mint mark may differ.
Photo credits
National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History (photo: Jaclyn Nash) (PD; source)

1943-S Steel Wheat Penny: back (type example, 1943 steel cent) — Type example: 1943 steel cent. Your coin's date and mint mark may differ.
Photo credits
National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History (photo: Jaclyn Nash) (PD; source)

Value by condition

Penny Value estimate · values as of Q4 2026

Worn (Good to Very Fine)

4¢ – 11¢

G-4 – VF-20

Uncirculated (MS-60)

$2.00

By grade

Typical value at each grade. Penny Value estimate.
Grade	Value
G-4Good	6¢
VG-8Very Good	6¢
F-12Fine	6¢
VF-20Very Fine	6¢
XF-40Extremely Fine	34¢
AU-50About Uncirculated	78¢
MS-60Mint State (Uncirculated)	$2.00
MS-63Mint State (Uncirculated)	$2.50
MS-65Mint State (Uncirculated)	$7.50

Values as of Q4 2026 · Penny Value estimate · based on 9 recorded sales

Penny Value estimate, 2026-Q4, from public sale records, mintage and survival data. It isn't a price guide or an offer.

How Penny Value estimates values

Check your own penny

Take a photo of each side. Penny Value reads the date and the mint mark, tells you if it could be a 1943-S Steel and what to check.

Check your own penny

Penny Value is an Android app for now, so it isn't on the App Store. The values and checks on this page are free to use.Penny Value is an Android app. Open this page on your Android phone to check your own penny with a photo.

How to identify it

Silver-grey colour; a magnet sticks
Weighs about 2.7 g
Re-plated ('reprocessed') steel cents look too bright and even, and are worth less

What to check

What a genuine 1943-S Steel shows:

Steel-grey or copper-coloured: Steel greyIs the coin's metal silver-grey like steel, or copper/brown?
Magnet test: Sticks to a magnetUser-only physical test: does a magnet stick to the coin?

To check yours, photograph

Weight in grams
Magnet test

Specs

Series: Lincoln Wheat Cent
Year: 1943
Mint: San Francisco
Mint mark: Below the date, on the front
Metal: Zinc-coated steel
Weight: 2.70 g · sticks to a magnet
Mintage: 191.6 million (191,550,000)
The issue total; the few bronze errors are not counted separately.
Source: Wikipedia
Designer: Victor David Brenner

Other varieties of this date

1943-S Bronze (error)
San Francisco · A handful known: about 4.
ErrorTest first
Rarely sold

Other 1943 pennies

1943 Steel
Philadelphia · 684.6 million made
7.5¢worn
$2.00MS-60
1943-D Steel
Denver · 217.7 million made
7.5¢worn
$2.00MS-60

1943 penny values · Every Lincoln Wheat Cent · Penny value chart