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 Replies: 16 / Views: 2,673 |
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Valued Member
United States
402 Posts |
At the show yesterday a number of us were into a discussion about the metal prices and smelting of coins. I need some definite answers and you Forum members are the best information bureau I know. 1. Is the melting/smelting of coins legal now? I know its done but is it legal? Basically copper. 2. If its not legal, do you think it will become so, and when do you think it will become legal? 3. If it becomes legal and coins are melted down what do you in your opinions think it will do to the scarcity and prices of coins in the future? Think I got it all out right. Lets hear your opinions. edgman    |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2781 Posts |
i dont think there are many melting copper, hoarding it maybe, but not melting it.
it is still illegal and the risk isn't worth the reward. silver takes up much less room and is much more valueable. $10,000 in silver fits in an ice cream pail, $10,000 in pennies fills a 45 gallon drum (5,ooo lbs?) - try handling that economically. more importantly it is a lot easier to sell a refined ingot of silver than it is copper. melting silver is still illegal but it doesn't get any attention.
to make melting pennies profitable you would have to deal with it on an industrial scale. it would gather attention and authorities would be challenged into doing something about it. most copper is shipped raw to be refined overseas. exporting a shipping container of pennies is illegal. plus there is enough industrial salavged copper out there that dealing with copper coins is pretty much pointless.
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Melting pennies will almost certainly never become legal. It costs money to make them and the mint has 0 interest in losing a bunch of money replacing the melted ones. Plus if they were going to do it they would want the extra money and not just let a bunch of other people make money off of it
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8517 Posts |
Hmmm, never thought about it before but I wonder if a guy could even melt his own pennies and make a brick-o-copper ? I doubt I could get anything hot enough.
Oregon coin geek.....*** GO BEAVS ! ! ! ***
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Valued Member
United States
158 Posts |
I agree with what basebal21 said. Why would the Mint want to have to replace all the melted copper? Another thing about the time frame of this happening: It wouldn't happen anytime soon seeing as the Gov has a million more important things to do besides legalizing the melting of coins. Maybe the copper penny hoarders will eventually realize this.
Myself, I will continue to hoard any of the silver I get my hands on, coins or jewelry.
HH everyone
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8517 Posts |
Doesn't cost a thing to penny hoard. Space maybe but that's bout it.
Oregon coin geek.....*** GO BEAVS ! ! ! ***
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2781 Posts |
the govt doesn't want you melting pennies because it would create competition for them - they are already doing it and replacing copper with plated zinc.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
the only way that melting copper Lincoln cents would be legal is if they stopped minting them all together and they had already pulled around 50% of them from circulation. I don't think this will happen unless the copper prices soar to levels we haven't seen and even then I wouldn't expect the ban to be lifted by the Govt when they could pull them all out themselves and either melt them or hold onto them until they have a certain percentage themselves and then make it legal to melt. I am not basing my theory on any facts just going by how I think they would react in this situation, but we all know trying to figure out what the Govt is going to do is like trying to figure out why kamikaze pilots wore helmets
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3692 Posts |
People shouldn't be literally melting them. It takes a certain expertise to know exactly the alloy and then to refine it into pure copper, anyhow. The term "melting" is thrown around too much to the point where it's been redefined as "making money from money". I challenge anyone here to actually melt their coins and then try to sell them as something other than an unrecognizable hunk of blobbiness. They were meant to circulate for dozens of years. If anything, the US Mint should refine the unrecognizable ones and make copper 5 cent pieces with the same size as old pennies. They would circulate for just as long and they would keep up with inflation and make them "melt"-proof.
...."melting"....
Edited by Libertad
10/28/2012 4:39 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4212 Posts |
Brian, 50%, really? Actively yanking them? Not being a smart-ask here, I didn't think it was that high. Although I save 'em from boxes, I just figured attrition & the zincs were the reason I've seen fewer.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8517 Posts |
Ha, I think copper melts at 2000 degrees. Probably cost more to melt them than it's worth but it would be fun to melt down a 5 gallon bucket o pennies into bricks.
Oregon coin geek.....*** GO BEAVS ! ! ! ***
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2781 Posts |
bryan is right,
the penny wont be 'meltable' (demonitized) until the mint has pulled the majority from circulation. both the US and Canada have active alloy recovery programs in effect (for nickel as well).
CRH s all already reporting fewer coppers, either by way of the mint, or other hoarders.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
1. Is the melting/smelting of coins legal now? I know its done but is it legal? Basically copper.
The melting of copper cents and copper nickel five cent pieces is currently illegal. Melting of any other coin is legal.
2. If its not legal, do you think it will become so, and when do you think it will become legal?
Yes it law will probably be repealed but not until the number of copper cents in average everyday circulation drops down to around 1 or 2%, or a year or two after the cent is discontinued.
3. If it becomes legal and coins are melted down what do you in your opinions think it will do to the scarcity and prices of coins in the future?
Not much of anything. Silver coins have values way above their face value and have been legal to melt for over 40 years now. Probably hundreds if not thousands of tons of silver coins have been melted down yet most silver coins today still base their value on the price of the metal they contain. The number of cents that were struck is many many times higher than the number of silver coins produced so it will take a LOOONG time before enough enough are melted to affect prices.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19961 Posts |
 w/ Conder |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Regardless of legal or not, melting all coins is done every day. Electricians take Copper and/or Aluminum wire and cable from work, burn off the insulation and throw in any Copper looking coins. Not with the Aluminum thoght. This is taken to smelters all the time. The Aluminum wire and cable is taken to smelters with Aluminum cans and anything else. Silver coins are taken to jewlers all the time and they too melt it for the Silver. Even Gold coins are melted by them. Laws or no laws about melting coins makes little difference since there really are no coin police monitoring this process. AND no one looks at the dates or mint marks. Laws for melting coins are like spitting on the side walk. Just not a big thing. In the future it will be just one of the problems with people not being able to fill a coin collection. Most will be gone.
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Pillar of the Community
Philippines
1156 Posts |
Interesting stuff, the melting in USA.
just an input - Over here it's ok provided the coins have been demonitized, melting current coins in circulation is a big no-no
Mostly silver & brass is of melt interest here, brass for display figurines and silver for jewelry
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Replies: 16 / Views: 2,673 |
Posted 10/28/2012 12:37 pm
