During World War II, the U.S. Mint switched to zinc-coated steel pennies to conserve copper for military use. However, a small number of 1943 pennies were mistakenly struck in copper ...

The company was diversifying and won a contract to produce blank pennies made mostly of zinc and coated with copper. (The penny hasn’t been pure copper since the 1800s.) Ball’s zinc business ...

In the middle of 1982, the U.S. Mint changed the planchets (the blank disk from which the coin is made) from striking copper-alloy to copper-plated zinc for cost reasons. However, it was difficult ...