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 Replies: 8 / Views: 1,269 |
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Valued Member
United States
344 Posts |
U.S. Mint officials implemented interim regulations Dec. 15, delegated through the Treasury Department, that restrict the melting, exportation and treatment of 1-cent and 5-cent coins and that include prison terms and fines for violations.
I am curious is it also against the law to melt any denomination of coins other than the two mentioned?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
834 Posts |
Well they don't seem to be in any hurry to run down anyone melting silver.  Bruce. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2269 Posts |
I think the Government is more concerned with taking current coins out of circulation. Since silver is rarely seen in circulation, it doesn't affect daily commerce. They did this to prevent someone from taking all the nickels or pennies out of circulation, this would cause the mint to produce more. This is one of those unique moments where you can make money off the coins the government looses money on.
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Valued Member
United States
143 Posts |
BRUCE 1947-
At any time the copper becomes substantially worth more than the penney, someone will want to melt it. That's probably the reason for the law.
Silver coin melt would be terribly hard to prove. Many old "coin silver" (from .80 to .90 fine) silverware pieces are melted down for scrap. I have some now I am going to scrap; others I will restore. And, jewelers recycle silver all the time, so .925 and .999 would be tough to prove.
Anyway, the mint is staying well above cost of silver and gold in their pricing to us common folk! The dealer price may fluctuate--dunno.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
834 Posts |
quote:
Originally posted by seth
BRUCE 1947-
At any time the copper becomes substantially worth more than the penney, someone will want to melt it. That's probably the reason for the law.
Silver coin melt would be terribly hard to prove. Many old "coin silver" (from .80 to .90 fine) silverware pieces are melted down for scrap. I have some now I am going to scrap; others I will restore. And, jewelers recycle silver all the time, so .925 and .999 would be tough to prove.
Anyway, the mint is staying well above cost of silver and gold in their pricing to us common folk! The dealer price may fluctuate--dunno.
I agree with you on your statement. BRUCE. |
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Valued Member
United States
414 Posts |
I think they are more worry about the industrial melting. With the limited melting by Jewelerys, the depletion of coins is very small. But only thing they can not say is below what number we can melt. With the number, people might find a lot of loophoops and a lot of coins might be melted. But sooner or later it will be a problem.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
I recall that back about 1964, the Government decided that silver coins were in danger of being "melted" and did something similar. Silver as a commodity exceeded the value of the coins in circulation. At the same time, President Johnson said something to the effect that the switch to Copper-nickel would not mean the withdrawl of silver coinage from circulation.  Well, as we all know that was a big fat intentional LIE to keep the average joe from making a profit off pocket change. So my advice is to SAVE your copper pennies. They are worth more than face value. It is a cheap investment and in time they will be worth melting. Once you boil off the zinc - who can tell if the ingot started as copper wire or other scrap copper. Copper is an element and zinc boils off BEFORE the copper even melts. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1152 Posts |
quote:
I recall that back about 1964, the Government decided that silver coins were in danger of being "melted" and did something similar.
along with melting all the Peace dollars of that year... too bad. |
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Valued Member
 United States
344 Posts |
quote:
Originally posted by seth
BRUCE 1947-
At any time the copper becomes substantially worth more than the penney, someone will want to melt it. That's probably the reason for the law.
Silver coin melt would be terribly hard to prove. Many old "coin silver" (from .80 to .90 fine) silverware pieces are melted down for scrap. I have some now I am going to scrap; others I will restore. And, jewelers recycle silver all the time, so .925 and .999 would be tough to prove.
Anyway, the mint is staying well above cost of silver and gold in their pricing to us common folk! The dealer price may fluctuate--dunno.
I suppose if it was against the law the NCM would of been charged with it when they made the tower silver dollars. If you study the original NCM Freedom Tower Silver Dollar ads, they state: "Created With WTC Recover Silver". Of course, the "Created With" part was in small print. This statement could legally allow them to do the following: 1) Buy one of the WTC recovery PCGS-certified Silver Eagle coins on ebay. 2) Melt that coin in a large batch of silver. 3) Use that silver to plate the coins. |
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Replies: 8 / Views: 1,269 |
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Posted 12/23/2006 09:40 am
