The 1944 Penny and a Macro Lens!

in Hive Collectors12 days ago (edited)

So two things here in this post. First thing: I found some 1944 pennies.

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I suppose they look unremarkable, and they kind of are, but there is a neat story behind them.

If you read my post on the 1943 Steel Penny then you already know, but to sum it up: in 1943 the US penny switched from copper to steel because the military needed copper for the war effort. You can see the steel penny at the top of the photo.

It was a decent idea, but it just didn't work. It rusted very quickly, was easily confused with dimes, and didn't work in vending machines since it was lighter than then copper penny and magnetic.

So 1944 rolls around and the mint went back to the drawing board. They decided to return to copper, but copper was still in short supply, so they managed to secure copper recycled from the war, mainly shell cases, hence the nickname of this coin: The Shellcase penny. These shellcase pennies were minted from 1944 to 1946.

When they were new the recycled copper had a darker than normal look. But these aged ones mostly look the same as any aged copper. Some people say they have more vibrant toning, but I don't know. Do you see any vibrant toning on mine? I snuck in the 1960 penny, the Indian head penny, and (below) the large cent for comparison.

Anyway, that's the first thing. Again, nothing amazing, but still a pretty cool coin to have just from the history. A few steel 1944 cents did slip out and those are worth big bucks if you ever find one. I think only a handful are known to exist, so if you find one, take it to someone you trust and see if it's real!

Anyway, the second thing here is I just realized my new iPhone has a macro lens built in. Sweet!

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Unfortunately I don't have great lighting in this room, so these shots are a little dark. I'll have to get some better light. But cool discover! That will mean better photos in the future.


Anyway, there you go. A cool coin, a cool history. The shellcase cents actually lasted until 1946 I think, Thoughts?

Hi there! David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Mastodon.

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Goodbye pennies, one day you will be needed again for peer to peer commerce. At least the copper pennies are still worth almost 3 cents in copper.
!PIMP

Very cool history and nice closeups of the coins! !BBH

Maybe some of the old coins are not very striking because of their design or not very vibrant appearance, but it is their history that makes them striking and the passing of the years and all the adventures they will have lived going from hand to hand, how many things will have been bought with these coins and what? 😍

Nice penis sir

!pimp

The macro game on my Pixel 8 Pro has been pretty impressive for me. I've been overly happy with the phone anyway, but that just makes me love it more. They are really packing a big punch into these devices lately. I agree, the 44 pennies don't look much different than a well traveled traditional penny.

yea.. very cool little coin/story. I am just looking at a small pile of change I got on my desk now.. I think I will just leave it as a small tip for my son who has to clean up my junk after I fly away.. 👊😎

The penny is no more, so collection like that one become even more special. The older ones were prettier though, alas I don't our complaints will ever get that changed!

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