Will Copper Cents Go Up In Value Overtime?

Well even common morgans may be uncommon or rare soon. Look almost anywhere and you see companies buying any and all silver & gold. We just had a company rent out a hotel conference center to buy junk jewelry and such. Looking at one of the big coin shows recently you saw dealers with buckets and buckets of silver coins and such being purchased to send to be melted. Not just recent coins are going in there either.

I have always kept some copper cents, and all wheat cents. I've now taken an even more active interest in this. It serves dual purpose. One I have "cash on hand" if the unthinkable happens and there is a run on the banks or such. The whole liquidity issue. Side benefit is I have all that copper also for melt value if need be.

I've been buying up every "cheap" lot of bulk world coins I've been able to find also. I collect world coins but all those dupes, culls, and such have melt value in them also. Some of the old coins are almost pure copper, nickle, etc.

For common 1921 BU Morgans (currently selling for around $25), silver would have to hit $35 an ounce for their melt value to exceed their current (numismatic) price.

Barring a return of the Hunt Brothers ,
this would take years and years to happen in a 'stable' silver market, even with a fairly high rate of inflation.




Umm, ever hear of "junk silver"? Why would coin dealers bother sending them to be melted when they can very easily sell them as "junk silver"?! There's a big demand by the customers for "junk silver" at the dealers I go to! "Junk silver" is very liquid (down to $1 increments in the case of "junk silver dimes"!), a known commodity, and it's still legal tender!

A bag of 100 common Morgans (for example) is a more upscale version of "junk silver", where you have some numismatic value to buffer the periodic drops in silver prices....

I would, however, say that those "traveling buyer shows" would be more likely to send off their acquired "junk gold & silver" for melting....

One dealer I know of uses 4 increments for 'junk silver' bags (lowest priced bag type listed first).

• Bag type #1 = Mix of Dimes (worn to BU Roosevelt, worn Mercs.), Washington quarters, JFK '64's and worn Franklins


• Bag Type #2 = Half Dollars only (BU '64's and/or better Franklins)


• Bag Type #3 = Dollar Bag; 1921 Morgans and/or 1922-35 Peace


• Bag Type #4 = Dollar Bag; 1878-1904 Morgans

Needless to say, by the time you're at Bag Type #4, your 'junk bag' is at a high price premium over 'spot silver' and the buyer of this bag is seeking more 'numismatic' value in the total equation than the buyer of Bag Type #1. And yes, you could question whether a bag type such as '#4' that sells for nearly '2× Spot' price should even be called a 'junk bag', (even with a capital "J")

Actually they do tend to leapfrog. Developing countries aren't running telegraph wires, then phone wire, to a large extent they are going straight microwave relay to cell towers. TV/video first comes to them as DVD's and satellite. Surveys are done by laser instead of tape rule and chain. Water is still bone by copper pipe but as plastic becomes more common place in the developed world it will also rapidly expand through the developing countries even faster and they will have a greater percentage of home plumbed with plastic than the developed world. (Because of the huge number of older homes in the developed world already plumbed with copper.)



Depends on the plastic. Some plastics can withstand a few hundred degrees, well higher than liquid water can reach. Cracking can also depend on the plastic used (But you do have to take care to make sure the plastic doesn't change properties as it ages. Some are flexible when new but may become brittle as it ages etc.) And even if it takes awhile before its use becomes widespread for hot water, there are also cold water lines that can switch to plastics before the hot water does.



Why? Because it is much easier to sell it to the smelters than it is to the "junk silver" market. If a dealer buys several bags of silver he has quite a bit of money tied up. It can take awhile to find buyers for these bags who are just looking to hold "junk silver". So the dealer has two choices in order to turn his money quickly, the smelter, or a larger buyer of "junk silver". The large buyer has the same problem. He will often get the silver in faster than it can go out to the hoarders. So once again the junk silver goes to the smelter because they can absorb considerably more than the smaller hoarders and the dealer gets paid immediately. If you don't believe this, talk to some of the large buyers and you will find that they send a lot of the "junk silver" off to the smelters.

OH one more thing. On several recent construction sites for underground systems in this area, no metals were used at all. Not even rebar for the duct runs. ALL manholes for electrical were premade and no metal rebar in those either. All ducts were made of PVC. ALL connections were PVC. ALL grounding was Aluminum. These are not small projects, they were numerous miles of ducts.

I have to disagree. This series is one of the most abused and neglected series of coins in history. Regardless of mintage, finding quality pieces is extremely difficult and I think collectors are starting to realize that. I challenge any of you to assemble a collection of MS65+ RD coins over that time period. GOOD LUCK, you're going to need it.

EDIT - I saw you just said "circulated", OK, maybe so. Then again, if melting is ever permitted or even the mint gets agressively into melting, you could be wrong.