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 Replies: 21 / Views: 3,918 |
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Valued Member
United States
174 Posts |
I just started pulling copper pennies, but it seems like a lot of people in the community are against hoarding. I look at it as a very safe small investment protected from much downside. I think if someone has the space to keep them there is no harm in have a few hundred or a few thousand (or fill in your amount here) off to the side. At worst you have the dollar amount saved. At best copper is up a ton and you can melt pennies (whenever that date comes). I am not sorting quickly...a few rolls here & there every day. It helps me relax and I'm having some fun trying to learn more about what I am unrolling. Thank you all in advance for reading and replying.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
If you have the storage space and you don't mind the loss of purchasing power (declining value of the dollar) over the time period you are hoarding them I see no problem with it.
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
The only real objection is, there's no market for copper except in industrial quantities. It's not like gold and silver which have active trading markets for small bulk holdings and "junk" coins. If it pleases you to do this, then do this.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
The problem is that there is no way to really cash in on the price of copper because no copper recycler will touch buckets and barrels of copper cents. It was a profitable venture a few years ago when the copper price surged, but today you would be lucky to break even if you were to sell on ebay. I managed to hoard over $110 worth of copper cents, and they all went into a coinstar about a year ago. It is a very low-risk investment (compared to sitting on equivalent face value in bills) but if profit is the ultimate goal, I would recommend you make a "real" investment that would net you a better return in a shorter amount of time for just a little more risk. |
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Moderator
United States
187702 Posts |
Quote:
If you have the storage space and you don't mind the loss of purchasing power (declining value of the dollar) over the time period you are hoarding them I see no problem with it. I agree. I keep every 95% copper cent that I obtain. My primary goal is that my tiny hoard escapes the big melt. That is, I hope to pass them on to a future generation of numismatists. I am assuming surviving numbers will dwindle if and when melting becomes common. |
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Valued Member
 United States
174 Posts |
I might need to be clearer about my main goal. My near goal is to relax & enjoy this new hobby. I hope to learn a lot more about the coins themselves here with everybody's help. As far as long range, my goal is to leave something of some value to my niece & nephews. I have been buying silver as it seems to be close enough to the bottom for my long range plans. I have no get rich, never mind get rich quick plans. I do look forward to all your help & guidance on my journey. Thank you all again
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Rest in Peace
United States
17900 Posts |
Once the melt sign gets turned on for copper cents you'll see that same thing happen as did when silver disappeared. A whole lot of $50 per year bank boxes holding cents saved for the future.
Worse - the zinc will be around as long as no one actually touches them.
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
I used to hoard 95% copper cents until I realized I was spitting against the wind , so I dumped them all at my TD Bank when they still had a coin counting machine . Used the proceeds to buy some nice collector coins . But every member has different views on whether to hold them or dump them .  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Just too much work for too little return.
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Rest in Peace
10197 Posts |
ImTBM, ditto to your searching reasons, but like Finn, I dumped about 10,000 XF+ back for somebody else to hoard. #1) the cost to refine a cent (when it can be done) is quite high, that will keep realized returns down, compare to current junk silver returns. #2) when the ban is lifted the market will be flooded and engorged with bulk copper. This will be WAY over the market need and usability for the metal. Its use is limited #3) current recycling methods meet market demands, why price for raw is low and stable. The recycling lobby will fight to death to prevent a flood of marketable copper from hitting the market #4)after trying to sell BU collections 1959-2015 to no avail and have trouble selling Wheat cent bulk and collections currently, the market demand isn't there. In the future ONLY the top quality will sell. I shifted to stockpiling BU/MS rolls. Am attempting to get a full series of rolls, so far its 1956D through 1963 and scattered to 1979. This has value now and will increase in future. Anything less won't. There are too many doing what I'm doing. Market will be very fat. 5). I decided I needed to invest in better ways, $100 was good seed money to flip coins on ebay., and take the pressure off of other collection purchases making high rate of increases. Edited by Crazyb0
11/03/2017 3:09 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12813 Posts |
Interesting conversation. I have a jar of copper cents from circulation and CRH; nothing too crazy. OP said: Quote:
At worst you have the dollar amount saved. True, except you have to factor in inflation eating away at the value. Now I, too, CRH to relax and my "stash" is small so I don't mind any loss due to inflation. Now I do recall a thread from a few years ago that had an ebay link where someone was selling something like 15 40-gallon Brute garbage cans full of copper cents. Inflation would be a bigger concern with a hoard that large. I wish I had saved the pictures from that auction... truly remarkable. |
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Moderator
United States
187702 Posts |
Quote:
I might need to be clearer about my main goal. My near goal is to relax & enjoy this new hobby. I hope to learn a lot more about the coins themselves here with everybody's help. As far as long range, my goal is to leave something of some value to my niece & nephews. I have been buying silver as it seems to be close enough to the bottom for my long range plans. I have no get rich, never mind get rich quick plans. Sounds good to me.  |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3049 Posts |
My opinion is probably the opposite of most here... due to inflation you're losing money the longer you hold on to it.
I remember someone once did a comparison of gasoline prices when silver was used in circulation, versus the same price of gasoline and the price of silver... the end result was that it was the same price.. however you if you sat on that money for a net/net 0 gain... you simply lost money.
In general a conservative ETF will gain 5-7% per year.
So any money you have just sitting around should gain the same amount year over year or else you're losing money that could've been made furthermore you're losing value as inflation rates are anywhere between 1 & 2%. Combined net loss of almost 9%.
You are so much better off CRH'ing if that's what you want to do... extract your finds and just send the rest to the bank to continue your CRH'ing or putting that money in some type of investment vehicle.
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Valued Member
United States
174 Posts |
Thank you all for your input. I go through a penny box every week or two as I usually don't open more than 2-4 rolls at a time. I am not what I would consider a coin collector at this time, but I have always been a collector. I kind of stumbled into this on YouTube and I am enjoying the hunt. Very relaxing going through a couple rolls and looking for variants adds to the fun (as the hunt has always been my favorite part of collecting). I figure as I get into this I can go through the copper pennies later if I end up collecting (which I fully expect will happen). Maybe build a nice little collection to leave when I'm gone. I left a link asking about the zinc pennies as I'm hoping to fund what I keep now by finding a few coins to flip or trade. Thank you all for the help. I will try to keep my questions to separate post so they wont run on so long. On a quick side note, how long has this site been up. It has wealth of knowledge and a very helpful community here. I'm still trying to find my way around the site. I have only been watching the coin & CRH videos on YouTube for a month or two and only found CCF the other day. I look forward to the day I might be able to help some other newbie that comes along as you all have been doing for me.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12477 Posts |
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On a quick side note, how long has this site been up. It was started in 2005. In Memory of Crazyb0 12-26-1951 to 7-27-2020
In Memory of Tootallious 3-31-1964 to 4-15-2020
In Memory of T-BOP 10-12-1949 to 1-19-2024
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Valued Member
United States
174 Posts |
A quick question for anyone who was hoarding copper, but have stopped and got rid of their hoard at face value. It seems like there is a market for copper pennies currently at 1.5 cents each in bulk. Was selling $100.00 face for $150.00 not an option? Maybe not worth the profit after selling costs? Just curious to see what others who have been there and done that have to say.
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Replies: 21 / Views: 3,918 |
Posted 11/03/2017 11:55 am
