Im a newbie and wanted to know more about my coin. Does this 1944 steel penny look authentic? Please help me with this.
Easy test: does it stick to a magnet? A true 1944 steel cent would. Even if it passes the simple magnet test, I still have my doubts.
I think what you have there is a regular 1944 copper cent that was plated with some kind of silvery colored metal. Look above GOD in the legend. It almost looks like there's some of the original copper color peeking through there, on the rim. I'll bet it fails the magnet test. Even if it doesn't, as mentioned, you're still not there yet.
It looks like the copper just toned a gray color. As @lordmarcovan said, try to stick it to a magnet.
The word is.. ferromagnetic meaning that it's attracted to a magnet. You can also weigh it. If it weighs 3.11 grams it's a normal Copper Cent. 2.7 grams is the normal weight of a Steel Planchet.. Big difference. IMHO it looks like Copper Cent.
I’m sure you have a copper cent dated 1944 that received some kind of steel gray plating to fool you.
There are large numbers of plated fakes. Some ways to identify whether zinc or copper have been mentioned. The large number of fakes were from dealers like this although it was not considered illegal.
Welcome to Coin Talk Sall. I think you might be confused about your cent. Unless there is missing information, all I see is a possibly MS grade copper 1944 cent. It is as it should be. No plating that I can see, and there are still rolls and rolls of unopened cents back to the 1900s. It was only the 1943 US cent that was struck using zinc with a steel plating due to WW II. There are reports of blank 1943 planchets sneaking into the 1944 production run, but your cent shows no signs of steel or zinc to me. You have a very nice example of a 1944 cent. Protect it in a sleeve or capsule.
