1943 Wheat question

61Cadillac

Elite Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2012
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590
Location
Upstate, NY
Ok, I'm closing in on having found at least one Wheat Penny for every year they were minted, one of the few I am missing is the 1943 "Steelie". My question is can I realisticaly ever expect to find one in the ground? Do they hold up to being buried for years or do they just rust away?
 
It would probably ring up like iron, so it's probably something you would never even dig (unless you typically dig iron).

Just buy one on EBay!
 
You know, I didn't even think about that angle on the problem! I have a number of the old "Steelies" in my collection already, I was just hoping to be able to say I found one of each year detecting. Oh well....
 
I've seen a couple of dug ones and they were both toasted BAD so doubt you could find one worth keeping.
 
I found one underwater that is toasted BUT you can read the date and see the wheats on it. But it was crumbling pretty bad. Never found one in the ground that I know of.
 
I've dug up steelies before, but only about 8-10. Most were in OK shape and really depends on acidity of soil. Some were barely visible. I remember detecting an old park that was turned into a grazing area for cows. Almost every coin was shot due to the acid of the manure seeping into the soil over the years. I think silver was OK, but buffalo nickels were ruined.
 
I am pretty sure that several hunters find these but throw them away thinking they are some sort of steel knockout plug or some other trash.
When they come out of the ground most of the time they are just rusted discs that cannot be cleaned off at all in the field so you really can't tell what they are and their size is your only clue.
I found 3 on one hunt once, this was probably a once in a lifetime experience, and I had no idea I had found them till I threw them in my tumbler...then I was shocked when I realized what they really were.

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=79293
 
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