Nickel Hoarding.. OH Boy Here We Go.. ?

I, too, have been going through nickels and am very surpirsed at the number of before 1970 I find. In going through $30.00 I found 1 silver, 1 buffalo and about 15 before 1942, a roll of pre 1960 and 4 rolls of 1961-1980! There are still a lot of old coins out there it seems. Some were hand rolled, some machine. When I was sorting through change in the 1960s for silver as well as 'wheat'pennies, nickels were kind of by the way side (except buffalo and silver) So I think many are out there. I don't recall finding 60-70 yr. old coins (not many) in the 1960s. Also, maybe part of the reason for all the 1964 nickels is that the govt knew the silver coins would be held for the most part so it put coins out there to help with the dimes/quarters/halves being kept. 1964 halves I think were kept for 2 reasons silver/Kennedy novelity. Just my thoughts, but I am getting a few nickel books for my grandson since there are so many avail. just in rolls from the bank. A little keepsake to have!

A few months ago there were quite a few articles on nickels as investments. Not much now. I have gone through about 1,000 in nickels. Anyone still sorting and keeping?

I still keep all S-mint, silver, and any with mintage below 25MM. I'll also keep all the Buffaloes and V nickels, along with any foreign that appear. This is just what I want to keep though - I don't consider it hoarding.

I do separate out copper cents and sell them. Some people are willing to pay a premium for copper cents - but I haven't found anyone willing to pay a premium for regular nickels.

I do hoard silver - but there's not enough bang for the buck for me to keep cents or nickels. The government can't afford to lift the melt ban on cents and nickels. Since it costs more to make than they're worth, the government simply can't afford to let people melt them when they have to replace them with something more expensive. It costs them nothing to let already minted coins circulate. But they'll have to replace each melted coin with a coin that has negative seigniorage. At least that what their tiny little brains tell them. Personally, I think they could easily start minting nickels and cents using the same philosophy as they do for halves. Only mint a couple million a year, call them NIFC, and sell them for a premium to collectors. Don't ramp up production until and unless people start screaming about a shortage.

Yes of course those are worth more but 30 years old now and here in US very few are far between. All nickels are worth keeping in my opinion. I was lucky to find a 1929 in my roll searches and Very good condition

While the article mentioned is functionally correct in that the metal content is indeed higher than the face value, the idea of bartering metals like copper and nickle in a post-catastrophe world is far-fetched at best. The quantities needed to produce anything of value and the resources needed to separate the nickle from the copper and reform the coins into usable, practical implements is enormous compared to the expected capabilities of the individuals.

What is more practical in today's world is for hoarding nickles and pre-1982 cents for the metal content for later sale or hedge. The problem with even this is that the amounts needed for any real gain is going to be quite large until the market for these metals is such that small amounts are practical for melt.

Silver and gold have been at these price levels for decades, but copper and nickle, while above face value, are just not valuable or rare enough to justify small scale melting now, and probably not for a long time.

I loved reading everyones post on this issue. I don't hoard really any coin. I keep some that I find in circulation. I do have a baggie with canadain coinage that I either brought back from one of my dozen trips to Canada or found here in the states. I have a jar for wheat pennies, a jar for every day lincolns, one container of foriegn, 1 jar for pre-57 nickels, and a jar for run of the mills coins.

I too have a 1929 V nickel from Canada, too bad it isn't a 1926.

I did find it odd the other day to see a huge amount of listings in Canada for Copper pennies by the pound? Now you telling me that people in the USA as well. WOW. Are they being melted down and sold for copper prices? Just wondering?

Due to fluctuating metals prices, it's actually less than 5c in metal as of today. Hope you got some good War Nickels out of the stash. =)

I think the big idea is that this could be a practical investment, not so much for the end of civilization, but for the inevetiable debacement coming to the nickel. In a lot of ways it is a rather safe long term copper play with the only real downside risk being inflation.

If you put $1000 in a money market account for 20 or 30 years the meager returns are extremely unlikely to keep pace with the intrinsic value in 10 boxes of nickels. In the late 40's silver prices where at about what copper prices are now. Near term the global demand for base metals may remain flat, but eventually it will heat up.

How would have liked your grandparents to have socked away a dozen or so boxes of silver dimes or quarters?