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Capturedyou
New Member
United States
4 Posts
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I was surfing a site called (124) Not Allowed - Auto-Removed .com and I noticed that before 1982 the pennies we had were 95% Copper! Even if it is a base metal it's uses in our daily world are rather large! As it turned out people were melting the coins down because the metal was and still is worth more as scrap metal! Now I've afraid I find myself digging though piles of pennies looking for pre-1982 pennies now! I plan to keep all of the ones in good shape. But still, our money used to be silver and gold....now it's just paper and the metal is getting cheaper. Does anyone else think perhaps we should go back to the gold standard so there's more assurance that our money is actually backed up by something?
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
3293 Posts |
Truly ... I'm struggling to understand if there is a question in your post ... or is this just a commentary on a number of un-related topics?  Copper cents (numismatists do not call them 'pennies') ... base metal value ... gold standard ... lots of thoughts in one short post.  To address one (posssible) question you posed ... Yes .. many folks save 1982 and prior copper cents ... although today in the USA they are not legal to melt for their metal value.  to the CCF David The ONLY owner of a CCF T-Shirt ..... prove me wrong with a photo! Take a look at my other hobby ... http://www.finewoodcrafter.comToo many hobbies .... too much work .... not enough time. |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
740 Posts |
i save pre-1982 pennies for Copper (CU) metal value, each 95% coin contain 2~3 cents in CU.  i guess we can call them 'pennies' since it is just base metal value  we are collecting?  I sure wish I did this back in 1964 for dimes...  Edited by Penny4Me
02/23/2012 11:21 pm
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
1244 Posts |
Welcome, Captured. You will find countless topics in these hallowed bytes on all those topics you touched upon. And just as many (if not more) opinions.
If you're looking for current coins that actually are worth more in their intrinsic metal content than their face value, look no further than the common nickel, which is worth about 5.5 cents in metal content currently. That's not as good a return per coin (percentage-wise) as 95% Cu cents, but the mint is still (for now, at least) making nickels out of mostly Cu.
Don't expect to get rich hoarding copper cents. Just have fun. :)
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Moderator
United States
14435 Posts |
if we were to go back on the gold standard we would be plummeted into a depression faster than you could imagine. When we were on the gold standard they couldn't just throw money at a problem because it had to be backed by gold, so probably a large percentage of the money that is out there in circulation right now would be worth more than what we have in gold. I would imagine they would have to recall all the "money" that is out there before they could ever go back on the gold standard, it isn't as easy to go back on it as it was to go off of it
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
2268 Posts |
We don't have nearly enough silver and gold to cover what we print, so that would be a huge disaster for us.
If you figure out how much gold and silver we have in reserve and then go look at how much we print, it'll be a huge difference. We print much more than we can back with precious metals.
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Valued Member
United States
126 Posts |
I hoard all of my pre 82 coppers, and I absolutely think we should be back on a gold standard.
The answer to wquinn's post is stop printing obscene amounts of money.
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Valued Member
United States
263 Posts |
Pre 82 coppers are the last of the 95% copper coins ever to be minted for circulation. They did strike some 2009 copper cents and put them in mint sets though.
Edited by everything
02/24/2012 6:35 pm
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
11110 Posts |
Contrary to this way of thinking is in the future if our science continues the way it is now going, almost any metal will be able to be made. Even now Diamonds can be mass produced if wanted. That is being done for miniture ones for saws, drills, cutting tools all the time. Presently some metals are being made from others but only in minute quantites. Soon enough Gold, Silver, Platinum, etc. will all be man made in any proportion wanted. If and when this occurs, those that have stockpiled massive quantities of any metal will be sitting on exactly that, a pile of useless metal. Not believing this is sort of like those that claimed men would never fly. A horseless buggy, impossible. People going to the Moon, impossible too. Just can't be done. Nuclear bombardments even now are approching such possibilities.
just carl
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
740 Posts |
Soon enough Gold will all be man made in any proportion wanted...  See Twilight Zone episode 4/21/1961: The Rip Van Winkle Caper, Season 2, Episode 24 In the episode The Rip Van Winkle Caper, criminals steal about a ton gold bricks heading to Fort knox and then sleep in suspended animation for 100 years in a hideout in Death Valley. After waking up they start getting greedy, fight amongst themselves, and in the end only one is left.  He's dying of thirst on side of road and he offers gold for water they seem puzzled. As it turns out, in 2062, gold can be manufactured now and is worthless. The future man returns to the car where his wife is, and they consider the bar of gold in confusion. They note that gold no longer has any value, and remember that it was once used as money a hundred years ago until they found a way to manufacture it. The man tosses the gold to the ground and drives off to notify the police of old man that just died on side of road. Edited by Penny4Me
02/24/2012 9:33 pm
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Valued Member
United States
55 Posts |
I love that episode, for a drink of water he makes the other guy give him a gold bar, and I love the futuristic car at the end of the episode, too bad about the 4th member of the gang though :(
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
1262 Posts |
Quote:
numismatists do not call them 'pennies' Aww c'mon numismatists say "pennies," "cents," "lincolns," "coppers," "zlincons," "wheaties," "useless," ete. etc. etc.... ... :-)
-Steve (GSNA R-2306)The Black CabinetA Database of Counterfeit Coins. Attribution Services. NumismetricaCoin Collection Management Software for your Desktop and Mobile Devices.
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Posted 02/23/2012 7:48 pm
