To help save copper for the war effort, the United States Mint began striking Lincoln cents from a zinc-coated steel composition in 1943. Like other steel cents, 1943-S pennies were saved in huge quantities by collectors and remain widely available today through MS67, with small quantities known in MS68.

More than 1 billion steel cents were made across the three then-operating mint facilities, including those in Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco. Steel cents are highly popular both with diehard coin collectors and novices alike, with the latter group generally regarding these one-year-only coins as interesting novelties. Some numismatic mass marketers sell many thousands of the three-coin'steel cent sets in any given year.