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Posted 02/29/2008 12:49 am
"I really wouldn't mind seeing the penny disappear, but later in the future they wouldnt be worth anything, speculation of future worth would lead the public to massive hoarding, which would lead to millions if not billions of hoarded pennies!"
You're right, of course, that billions would be hoarded or saved from destruction. The penny has so little value that billions more would be retained by those who just didn't care enough to redeem them.
There's no chance any of the currently circulating cents would become scarce in the foreseeable future.
However, that's only a small part of the story. Collectors have never sought the mundane and commonplace. Many cents are not really in circulation and there are numerous rarities which would be destroyed in very large percentages if the ciirculating coins were withdrawn.
First consider that there are no BU 1985 cents in circulation. Such coins weren't saved very widely and melting won't have much impact on the number available. Things like '14-D cents aren't in circulation either but consider the number of 1983 copper cents around. There are just a few known and probably dozens in circulation. If these are melted then we'd have just the few left. The same thing applies to many of the varieties. Some of these were missed in unc and are now just waiting in sock drawers and change jars for the day they'll be destroyed like any common cent.
The elimination of these coins will also have a strong psychological effect on people. Now everyone seems to think they have forever to assemble memorial sets but once the coins are gone people will not only grow nostalgic but they'll have a sense of urgency to put together a set. Many of these are much scarcer than the wheaties in nice condition but they sell for nothing now because there is no demand.
You're right, of course, that billions would be hoarded or saved from destruction. The penny has so little value that billions more would be retained by those who just didn't care enough to redeem them.
There's no chance any of the currently circulating cents would become scarce in the foreseeable future.
However, that's only a small part of the story. Collectors have never sought the mundane and commonplace. Many cents are not really in circulation and there are numerous rarities which would be destroyed in very large percentages if the ciirculating coins were withdrawn.
First consider that there are no BU 1985 cents in circulation. Such coins weren't saved very widely and melting won't have much impact on the number available. Things like '14-D cents aren't in circulation either but consider the number of 1983 copper cents around. There are just a few known and probably dozens in circulation. If these are melted then we'd have just the few left. The same thing applies to many of the varieties. Some of these were missed in unc and are now just waiting in sock drawers and change jars for the day they'll be destroyed like any common cent.
The elimination of these coins will also have a strong psychological effect on people. Now everyone seems to think they have forever to assemble memorial sets but once the coins are gone people will not only grow nostalgic but they'll have a sense of urgency to put together a set. Many of these are much scarcer than the wheaties in nice condition but they sell for nothing now because there is no demand.
Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
