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 Replies: 39 / Views: 5,422 |
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Valued Member
United States
218 Posts |
I do not think that melting copper cents would lead to rapid disappearance of a significant portion of circulating cents as Conder101 stated . From the $4000.00 face or so I have went throw I've got about 20% copper and 80% zinc so by that there's only 20% of all the cents left would be melted down the other 80% would stay in circulation
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Valued Member
United States
410 Posts |
Pennies don't really circulate anyway. They only move from bank vaults to penny jars with maybe a stop in a "give a penny / take a penny" tray. The market has already given up on the penny.
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Moderator
 United States
188770 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
959 Posts |
Quote:
Im sure the "doomsday Preppers" are
According to a neighbor of mine who is 'Big Time Into Guns', the only thing of value will be LEAD; namely bullets! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
745 Posts |
 I guess we will need to melt down our Silver bars to make .999 Silver bullets!  Edited by Penny4Me
05/23/2012 8:29 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
745 Posts |
Math Quiz:
So US pennies before 1982 are made of 95% copper & if there are approx 146 pennies per pound...
then it would take 154 US 95% Cu pennies to make 1 pound of .999 copper, Correct?
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Valued Member
United States
410 Posts |
You would need a method to remove the nickel from the nickel/copper alloy a penny is made from. I don't know of any easy method.
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Valued Member
United States
131 Posts |
copper pennies are 140 boxes to the ton. That's like $3500 per ton. 140 boxes is about 2 cubic feet. You can't stack them more than 6 high or they will sag. To invest some reasonable sum like $35K would be 10 tons. A 55 gallon barrel would hold a ton but since the barrel is made to hold like 500 pounds of liquid you might not be able to lift the barrel without it bulging or splitting. At least the pennies would survive if your house burned down.   |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1247 Posts |
a ton of copper aka real world value (3500.00) is worth $6280 in scrap
copper is selling for 3.40 a lb...
so 1.54 in pennies as money, or 3.40 for pennies as scrap.. you decide which has more value.
so is it illegal to put a penny in one of those machines that flatten it out and put a design on it?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
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You would need a method to remove the nickel from the nickel/copper alloy a penny is made from. I don't know of any easy method. Nickel/copper? As for separating the copper and zinc, melt them and push the temperature up close to the boiling point of copper 2562 F or possibly even boil it a bit. Zinc boils at 1180 F and most of the zinc should rapidly boil off. Quote:
so is it illegal to put a penny in one of those machines that flatten it out and put a design on it? Not as long as it doesn't melt it. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8517 Posts |
Pennies are dang heavy. I have a 5 gallon bucket a little more than half full. I can no longer use the handle to lift it, would just pull off. It's getting to a point where I need to find its permanent spot in the house, lol.
Oregon coin geek.....*** GO BEAVS ! ! ! ***
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Valued Member
United States
410 Posts |
@Condor: I was thinking nickels not pennies. Still, getting a large quantity of pennies up to 2500 F isn't easy in my mind. I wonder how much the fuel required to melt a penny costs.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2295 Posts |
And I would doubt there would be a cent shortage, if it was legal to melt copper cents, since there are so many billions of zincolns around. They don't circulate, so that is why they have to mint billions each year. They are used once and then stuck in a jar at home. And with all of the copper cent hoarders, it is making matters worse.
The Mint just needs to stop making the cent and withdraw them from circulation and recycle them.
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Valued Member
Canada
178 Posts |
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The Mint just needs to stop making the cent and withdraw them from circulation and recycle them. Just like we just did in Canada, last ones were made about a month ago. We'll have to see how it works out. |
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Moderator
United States
188770 Posts |
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We'll have to see how it works out. I am sure it will work out just fine. |
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Replies: 39 / Views: 5,422 |
First Page
Posted 05/21/2012 5:42 pm
