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 Replies: 17 / Views: 3,340 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
557 Posts |
Hey gang - Just kind of a odd day today - lol Went to take some copper to the scrap yard (along with some Carbide and Brass from work) .. And saw a guy with 3 - 5Gallon buckets .. all full of "wheat cents" I was told by one worker ... I didnt know people even could take them to a scrap yard ?  .. Very strange .. and I wonder if the workers had to go through the buckets?  ? or does the guy at the scrap yard have to take it to the mint for melting ...?  How does this work ? and why would someone do it ? Seems strange to me .. but maybe someone here will know more about it ... I'm a bit stunned by it to be honest - i guess he had alot of worn out cents ? .. Still very odd to me ..  thanks in advance for any insight on this one .. very strange --- Phil \m/ |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Did the scrap yard pay him scrap for it?
As of now melting coins is illegal so I am not sure what use the yard could have had for them unless they were just going to melt them anyway
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1080 Posts |
well, it's not illegal to melt ALL coins... it's only illegal (currently) to melt cents and nickels. Of course, if this was a Canadian scrap yard, they can melt wheat cents.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7840 Posts |
I would have made on offer on a "bucket-o-wheats"!
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
557 Posts |
Lol - I wanted to make an offer once I found out what was in the buckets .. but had no chance ... I know it caused a bit of a stir there with the workers .. some seemed angry at the guy , other just amazed ..
I was told , that they were not able to "melt" them .. but I've seen shadier things done and was curious if it was "doable" or maybe a something done on the "regular"...
I do know the owner of the place which he wasnt there today (i frequent it often due to being a machinist I get some hefty scrap piles each month) ..
so I think a trip is due tomorrow to see what the hub-bub was all about .
Im curious if the owner , who I knew collected morgans just from random chatting , may have heard this guy had a bunch he wanted to get rid of and told him to bring them to his shop to weigh and pay accordingly to copper weight ? .. Just my theory/thoughts at the moment - lol ...
I will be sure to let you all know what the story was with these buckets .. If its a case of the owner buying them , Best believe ill be coming home with a bucket tomorrow haha ... (hopefully , if they look semi decent) ..
Till tomorrow - ill be back with more info on this-
Good Night Gang-
Phil \m/
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
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Valued Member
Canada
316 Posts |
WOW 5 gallons of cents. lol. wonder how much it would go for. good luck for getting one.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8516 Posts |
I'm surprised someone could lift a 5 gallon bucket. That's gotta weigh a lot.
Oregon coin geek.....*** GO BEAVS ! ! ! ***
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
7096 Posts |
I would imagine that a 100 or so kilos of copper cents added to a tonne bale of copper wire would not even get noticed at the smelter.  I know it may be illegal to melt copper cents but has any one actually been charged for doing this. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
I didn't realize so few know this is going on all the time. By me there are many metal recycling places and all take anything metal. One of my neighbors that used to be an electrician told me he and many of his coworkers took Copper and Aluminum wire there all the time and threw in many, many copper coins. He said some guy threw in a pile of what looked like very large Pennies. Copper coins go in to the metal recyclers all the time. LAWS? Try to figure out what a copper coin was when melted with a ton of wire. At flea markets all over the area jewlers take in Silver coins and melt them down with no regards to dates at all. To them, Silver is for Jerlery. And there too, how could anyone tell it was ever a coin once melted and mixed with other piles of Silver?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
I'm surprised someone could lift a 5 gallon bucket. That's gotta weigh a lot. About 165 pounds. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
557 Posts |
Hey gang -
Welp , made the trip to the yard after work to talk with the owner/operator of the yard .
And turns out he had asked the guy to bring them for him ... I didnt get to ask for a bucket , mainly since he told me they were for his Grandkids to go through when they spend nites at his place and at his camper ... Wanted to ask for one soo bad but , he had the children in mind and didnt want to come between some youngin's learning our hobby :-) ..
So , turns out they didnt go to get melted like the worker thought ... And the total "average" weight per bucket was around 162.5 pounds .. I didnt ask what he paid , didnt feel it was my place .. but I'm sure he took care of the guy that brought them for him ... Thats ALOT OF PENNIES .. Going to try and figure that part out on the average weight to see what the ballpark would be ...
Turned out to be a pretty good thing seeing them buckets there yesterday ... Hope the Kids enjoy the buckets and maybe get lucky and find something interesting ... Can only wonder whats all in there ....
Phil \m/
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Pillar of the Community
United States
557 Posts |
Ohh and the questions about how they lifted it -
The guy that brought them had the buckets strapped to a pallet ... So I'm assuming he had filled the buckets up on the pallet then just lifted it with the forklift at his shop to bring to the Yard ...
"Three" 5gallon buckets sure is alot of weight ..Roughly Averaged " 487.5" pounds of wheat cents .. geez , thats ALOT of pennies ... haha ...
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
well, that's a happier outcome than I feared.
But, I wonder, if the seller received more than he would at a bank ?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
557 Posts |
Well from what I remember the guy saying-
He mentioned he payed him close to spot price for copper weight (so I'm guessing roughly around 3$ per pound ? .. I forget the price copper is going for at that yard .. gota be around 3bucks per pound)
But doing some math-
3-5gallon buckets .. roughly estimated at 162.5 pounds = 487.5
487.5 x 3.$ = 1,462.50$ ... (3bucks being My guess for the copper per pound price)
Now I'm curious how we could figure out how many pennies it would take to get the weight either per bucket at 162.5 pounds = how many pennies? or the total weight 487.5 pounds = how many pennies ? lol ...
lol turning into a math quest .. I gota recheck what a single penny weights haha .. gona go poke around and see what I can figure out ..
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Replies: 17 / Views: 3,340 |
Posted 04/19/2012 9:47 pm
