1942 Cent Pattern - J-2060, Brown Plastic

Coin Details

Auction Record

$16,450 PR64 10-18-2012 Heritage Auctions

Description

Judd-2060, Pollock-2250, is a brown plastic cent pattern from the 1942 wartime testing program. The brown coloring was deliberate — by tinting the plastic to approximate the warm brown tones of a circulated copper cent, the Mint hoped to test whether color alone could make a non-metallic cent feel sufficiently familiar to the public. The psychological dimension of coinage acceptance was a significant concern: Americans had handled copper cents for over 150 years, and any replacement needed to feel like "real money." The brown plastic cent came closer to this goal than the black plastic version (J-2059), but the material's light weight, lack of metallic ring when dropped, and waxy surface texture still betrayed its non-metallic nature immediately upon handling. The brown plastic pattern demonstrates the Mint's understanding that composition change involved not just engineering challenges but also public psychology and the deeply ingrained cultural associations between metal and monetary value.

Rarity Notes

R-7 to R-8. Extremely rare. Non-metallic wartime patterns are among the most highly prized oddities in the pattern series.

Cross References

Judd J-2060, Pollock P-2250; 1942 wartime cent composition testing program; brown plastic