1944-46 shell casings: true or false

[Guest]

Were the 1944-46 pennies really made from shell casings or is it an urban legend?

[GrumpyEd]

I do notice the color for 45 is different, not as much so for the 44 and 46.

I think it's true but I haven't seen 100% proof, many different sources say it was done. (LOL... but then that's how myths are too)

[ray_parkhurst]

I've seen a few wild-colored '44, many '45, and quite a few '46 Cents that I assume must have excess impurities in them from some source. I believe contemporary accounts were that shell casings were used, so that's the Occam's Razor explanation for the wild colors and coincidental timing.

[coppercoins]

It is true. I have seen mint documentation to the effect.

[bugo]

I've seen a few wild-colored '44, many '45, and quite a few '46 Cents that I assume must have excess impurities in them from some source. I believe contemporary accounts were that shell casings were used, so that's the Occam's Razor explanation for the wild colors and coincidental timing.

What color were they?

[ray_parkhurst]

Here's a thread I started sharing results from searching a group of 46-S rolls. The colors on these were fairly typical, though I have also seen other more dramatic colors on 46-S as well. The "mottled" red/orange/other color patterns are typical of shellcase Cents.

http://www.lincolncentresource.net/forums/showthread.php?p=220829

[GrumpyEd]

What color were they?

I've seen 1945 cents that have pretty reds with purple hues and sometimes a streak of gray that look very neat.
On 1944 I've seen similar but less gray streaks and on 1946 sometimes some orange and pretty hues and some gray streaks.

[WxMan]

Curious. If the coin was made out of shell casings would it be a different weight than a coin made from copper?

[GrumpyEd]

The content is so similar that they would probably still be within the normal tolerance.

[ray_parkhurst]

I have a 1945-S $20 bag from Fed Reserve Bank San Francisco and the coins are all a uniform toned beautiful red-orange. Quite a sight to see...

[rlm's cents]

At least mostly false. There were not nearly enough casing to make even one year of those coins. And it has been shown that no coins were ever made from shell casing. I cannot retrieve it, but there was an article in Coin World 03/20/06 showing proof.

However, there was definitely a composition change in that era.

[ray_parkhurst]

True, there were not enough to make an entire mintage, but that doesn't mean some quantity of shell casings weren't added to the existing mix. It was possibly a symbolic gesture. The preponderance of impurities in these years says that something was added, and most likely it was shell casings. Interestingly, I see a lot more S-Mint coins with strong impurity-driven toning.

[rlm's cents]

True, there were not enough to make an entire mintage, but that doesn't mean some quantity of shell casings weren't added to the existing mix. It was possibly a symbolic gesture. The preponderance of impurities in these years says that something was added, and most likely it was shell casings. Interestingly, I see a lot more S-Mint coins with strong impurity-driven toning.

True, they COULD have been used, but the people I have heard/Coin World say that it was announced for propaganda purposes only and never completed.

[jallengomez]

I once researched this and I couldn't find a single citation that proves shell casings were ever used. It never goes beyond the anecdotal.

[ray_parkhurst]

True, they COULD have been used, but the people I have heard/Coin World say that it was announced for propaganda purposes only and never completed.

What people say is not always true. Far more valuable is the physical evidence.