A recent trip to one of my favorite internet auction services produced a 1943 steel cent in Mint State. Though it is not a rare item by any stretch of the imagination, the coin I now own is housed in a faintly tattered manila paper envelope which reads: "HERE IS / YOUR NEW / WAR-TIME / PENNY / Obtained for you from / the U.S. Treasury, / Washington, D.C., by / PATHFINDER, several / weeks in advance of / general circulation" on 10 lines in red ink. It is machine signed "E.H." in fancy script. This is the first one of these I have ever seen in 50+ years of collecting, and I immediately purchased it for well under $10. The leading third-party grading services churn out "First Release" and "Early Release" slabs at every turn whenever a new issue is minted. I can't help but wonder whether I could get this Mint State 1943 "steelie" in a "First Release" holder from one of the grading services? After all, it is a bona-fide early release!

Harvey Stack writes:

To read the complete article, see:
A First-Release 1943 Steel Cent (www.stacksbowers.com/NewsMedia/Blogs/TabId/780/
ArtMID/2678/ArticleID/65443/A-First-Release-1943-Steel-Cent.aspx)

To read the Encyclopedia Britannica article, see:
Pathfinder : American magazine (www.britannica.com/topic/Pathfinder)

To read the complete eBay lot description, see:
Pathfinder News Magazine, Every Week From The Nations Capitol, March 6,1944 (www.ebay.com/itm/Pathfinder-News-Magazine-Every-Week-From-The-Nations-Capitol-March-6-1944-/151602309625)