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 Replies: 32 / Views: 5,022 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19937 Posts |
Look at the spot price of copper over the last year. Current melt value of 2.2 cents per cent.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1599 Posts |
I wish I had as much as some posters here. Did I also read recently that nickels will soon exceed their value?
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Valued Member
United States
124 Posts |
I set aside approx. 20$ worth of pre-82 cents just for the heck of it really. They cant be melted legally as far as I know and with a melting point of 1900F degrees that's a little too hot for the average garage project.  But who knows, the world may go mad max and they might come in handy. But I agree copper is and has been on the rise. I think copper like the rest of the metals will continue to gain in value as the US dollar depreciates. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2520 Posts |
nickels are a little over face. .0515 cents.
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Valued Member
United States
369 Posts |
That's interesting about the nickels. I too "hoard" copper cents. My hoard, however, is only a few dollars worth, but I'm poking along.
Maybe it's time to bring my state-by-state-copper-percentage-per-roll back out from retirement...
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Valued Member
United States
369 Posts |
Well...it seems that thread is so old that it no longer exists. If I remember correctly, though, the average was around 23%. That's almost a quarter of every roll of cents is copper and worth 2.2 cents each. So if you could get even 20%, that's 10 coins per roll worth 22 cents, or 12 cents "profit" per roll. And if you searched 100 rolls, that's $12 profit just from the "junk" copper.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
19937 Posts |
Look how cents fair as a % of denomination:  Lincoln Cent Lover!VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
Storage of them has been my issue ! Maybe I could get one of those giant containers and just throw in all pre-82 Coppers in there for the next twenty years or so. Then I could either just take em' to the bank and buy a new truck.......or sell them to copper buyers and get a nice premium over face ! ........hummm....my brain is plotting now ! ...  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2600 Posts |
Having been MIA for a while, I maybe out of touch but is it not still illegal to melt cents for copper? If so, what good does it do to weigh the floor down with coins. Or, has something happened I am not aware of?
Jim
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Melt prices are always interesting. However, can you really get those prices anywhere? Just who do you sell them to? With the exception of an ebay posting of UNSEARCHED pennies, not easy to sell any coins for metal legally. Even illigally, smelters seldom give you as much as is posted for Copper by weight. That is due to that is what they want to sell it for so they can not pay you the same thing. For Silver many try to sell to smelters and are awakened to the fact that those too will not give you what is listed as Silver prices. Ever hear those TV adds for sending me your Gold. Do you think they give you over a thousand dollars an ounce. NO. Lucky to get half that. With Copper it is even more difficult to find a purchaser for what the Copper is posted as for metal values. And that too is for the reason that who you are selling to also wants to sell if for so called metal prices. I've always wondered about those that hoard Copper Cents. If the same amount was just put into a savings account in a bank, over the years the interest would make saving a pile of coins not really worth the space used. I've seen photos of people with massive rolls of coins and wondered just how much profit they ever gain. Back when the Bicentennial Quarters came out myself and a freind hoarded many of them. He acccumulated thousands of dollars worth. Me, only several hundred dollars worth. Not long ago at a coin show we both tried to sell them or some of them. NO ONE wanted them and one dealer said $0.24 each to show how much he really didn't want them. All ended up in a bank where the money should have been all this time. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
812 Posts |
I believe the ban on melting is still in place, but my understanding is that the reason for the ban was to prevent a shortage of circulating cents (and nickels).
As coins continue to stockpile due to lack of demand, it seems pretty likely that the melting ban will be lifted. I don't foresee anyone retiring as a "copper baron," but if I can sell $1 for $2, I think that is a good thing.
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Valued Member
United States
83 Posts |
I guess I will always hoard the copper cents. I look at the rise in metal value and can't help it. It just makes good sense to me. Then again, so did the Titanic.
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Moderator
 United States
188026 Posts |
Quote:
Having been MIA for a while, I maybe out of touch but is it not still illegal to melt cents for copper? Yes it is, but there is no reason why they cannot be saved, traded, or sold as "copper bullion" and not as scrap metal. Leaving them intact has an advantage over scrap copper in that it is a known purity. I keep all of my 95% copper cents. I know it won't make me rich, but I also know they won't be melted down either!  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19937 Posts |
Quote:
Yes it is, but there is no reason why they cannot be saved, traded, or sold as "copper bullion" and not as scrap metal. Leaving them intact has an advantage over scrap copper in that it is a known purity.
EXACTLY! |
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Valued Member
United States
369 Posts |
Someone said, a long time ago, that they were saving copper cents, not to sell them to be melted, but to have them after everyone else melts all of theirs down. Basically, all the melting would cause a pretty big decline in the number of pre-82 cents available, therefore making them more valuable as a collectible. I think this is a good strategy, especially since I don't plan on having such a massive amount that it would make it worthwhile to melt them.
I think jbuck may have said that, although I can't remember for sure...
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
Now........I need to search for a container that is three or four feet tall....two and a half feet wide or so.....and one that will not break. And just how will I "ship" to sell 240 pounds of Cents 30 years from now when I've amassed my "pile" ? With my luck....  ..I'll die before I need to worry about it. And some "inheritor" of mine will just take them down to the bank for face value.....  |
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Replies: 32 / Views: 5,022 |
Posted 01/18/2010 11:14 pm
