Potential Value Of Copper And Roll Averages

I once thought that copper would be a slam-dunk investment choice. As a result of saving ALL of my copper pennies over the course of 5 years, I now have a 3-ish gallon pretzel barrel full of loose coins, which at melt value would be enough to buy a week's worth of groceries, and at face would be enough for an outing at Olive Garden with my wife. The barrel weighs about as much as an average high school cheerleader, and I long ago lost count of how much it actually has in it.

Copper has been a standard for low-value coins for over 2,500 years. It sees small fluctuations in price as a result of supply and demand, but there is just too darn much of it to think that it might ever have significant buying power. It will grow in value for sure, but such changes are an illusion caused by inflation and/or the decreased buying power of the dollar. The odds that your gains will exceed the effort you put into your hoard are pretty remote.

As to your other question, I generally find that about 15% of circulating pennies are copper--sometimes more; sometimes less. Also, don't just toss all '82 cents if you are going for copper--I have found that at least 90% of 1982 cents are copper and zinc '82s are relatively scarce.

You can sell them for between 1.3-1.5 cents each on craigslist and ebay. Back when copper was higher, I used to get 1.5-1.8 cents each on craigslist and ebay. I have found and sold well over 100000 in the past year alone.

Average between 15-17, maybe 20% copper over that time. However, I have found a few bags with 50-60% copper