When the United States formally entered World War II, the nation began rationing key materials to help the military effort. To save copper for ammunition, the United States approved minting Lincoln cents from a zinc-plated steel composition. This new format was first used in 1943, with steel cents replacing the traditional bronze composition that had been used through 1942.

Steel cents are popular coins both from the standpoint of collecting and also in terms of their marketability to non-collectors, many of whom have never seen steel cents before and find them novel. Dealers, particularly the major distributors, often sell 1943 steel cents to non-collectors as a type of gateway coin to hook non-numismatists into collecting. More than 1 billion 1943 steel cents were made across all three mints that produced them, and the Philadelphia-minted specimens are common in grades through MS67. In MS68 they're extremely scarce.