Silver 1943D penny

[Calledtobefree]

I have a 1943D Penny which looks more like a dime because it is silver colored. It's in great shape, all details are clear and there is very nice luster. I'm just wondering why it's silver and if that makes it more valuable.

[jcuve]

The 1943 Lincoln cents were made of zinc coated steel. Yours is a little slick looking and may have been replated by someone years ago.

[enamel7]

Jason nailed it!

[jfines69]

Nice lookin. steelie!!!

[Calledtobefree]

Why or how would someone replate a coin, I dont understand. Ive seen several of these on Ebay going for a lot of money and they were mostly appraised coins.

[jallengomez]

The zinc coating on steel cents corroded easily, and many dealers and others reprocessed them in order to make them look mint state. This is such a common practice and such an easy thing to do, that reprocessed steel cents are all over the place. You can buy them by the roll for cheap. For the novice, it can be hard to tell the difference between a true mint state coin and a reprocessed coin. I'm assuming by "appraised" you mean graded by a third party grading service. In that case, as with all coins, high grades can command lots of money. Here's the info from the LCF glossary-

Re-plated: Although any cent can be re-plated, this is most often seen on 1943 cents. The zinc-plated steel was frequently re-plated with various metals in an attempt to make them look uncirculated (http://www.lincolncentforum.com/terminology-list-u/#Uncirculated). This is considered post-strike damage (http://www.lincolncentforum.com/terminology-list-p/#Post-strike%20Damage) and devalues the coin. A coin that has been plated or re-plated outside the mint will not have radial flow lines (http://www.lincolncentforum.com/terminology-list-f/#Flow%20Lines), be lacking mint luster (http://www.lincolncentforum.com/terminology-list-m/#Mint%20Luster), may show bubbling or pooling of metal especially along the devices, and be off color.
http://lincolncentforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/replated-150x150.jpg (http://lincolncentforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/replated.jpg)

[jfines69]

I would like to add that even the pros can be fooled by the replated 43s... There are some really good replated coins out there that some one spent a good deal of time on... Now if you come across a 1943 LWC made of the copper that could be a gold mine there are only a few that exist and the last one sold for around 2 million at auction if my memory serves me correctly!!!

[Calledtobefree]

Ok well thank you for thr info and resources I appreciate it! I sure thought I had a winner... I do the magnet test on every 43 and 44 I come across.