To All You Would Be Hoarders Out There.

I was gonna post this as a reply to another topic but as I started writing I realized it was off topic and didn't wanna Hi-jack.

So we all know people hoard copper cents based solely on the principle that one day (if) you will be able to melt it down for pure profit, seeing as how 1 copper cent = roughly 2.5 cents in raw metals.



There are many arguments for and against hoarding. some of these include;

Inflation - They wont be worth what it took to obtain them in 30, 40, 50 years. You'll be lucky to break even.

This is probably correct

Appreciation - Having $100 face in pennies being worth approx $250 in metal value will not appreciate nearly as well as a single $100 coin.

This is a hard one, no one can know what metal values will do by the end of the year.. let alone 25 years down the road. But chances are a single $100 coin will more than double or triple in 25-30 years

Illegal - Hear about that guy in the place in the country that hoarded $123,456,789 in raw cents and the Gov't seized it!

Thats an extreme case, most hoarders have somewhere under $2500 in raw cents.



Most of the "against" is what has kept me from taking this up myself but I do have to admit, it's pretty tempting. I mean come on, its basically free money. But then reality kicks in, we're never gonna get the go ahead to melt... so why bother.

Well I talk to my wife about this a lot and I can never decide on "to hoard copper, or not to hoard copper," and I think I've found a way to make my own conscience (and my wife) happy.



1. I will "hoard" copper cents by the principle that I'm not hoarding for future melt potential, but for collection value.

With President Obama proposing a new metal comp for cents in 2011(?) I imagine people will start pulling coppers out purely for their collectors value the way they did with wheaties or silvers. Sure these wont be worth anything in the next 20 years, but think about those IHC's someone decided to hold onto. By the time I'm an old man and have a kid (grandchild) that is also interested in collecting I can pass them to that person and make their day. How many of us have received such gifts? Not to mention most silver coins are valuable purely cause of the metal they have in them, not their numismatic value.

I think it's safe to say that a coin will never be worth less than face value or intrinsic value which ever is highest and never be worth more than its numismatic value.

2. Set a limit.

Figure out how much is reasonable to hold onto and stick to it. Whether it's $150 face, one roll of every date/MM, 50 lbs, etc.

3. Keep it a collector item not a box of hoarded crap.

Have some sort of sensible storage, treat them like you would if they were all low grade IHC's. If nothing else throw them in paper rolls, put em in a brinks box you keep, mark em, and set em aside.




I think this will give me the best of both worlds. In one hand, in 50 years ill have the equivalent of a crap ton of wheaties. In the other, If you are able to melt.. I have a ton of copper ready for processing. But in wither sense it's not over kill and is manageable. Plus if I keep them by Date/MM its easy to pick and choose if and how I use them.



TL:DR
Easy way to hoard with out going over board is to set limits, keep them more for numismatist value than melt, and if you can melt in the 20 years cool, if not... whatever. you got a bunch of copper cents you cant find in circulation anymore... Like wheaties.

Thoughts?