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 Replies: 58 / Views: 30,708 |
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Valued Member
United States
327 Posts |
*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***I didn't find anything in the search except for a thread about melting coins but this is different. I would really love to hear everyone's opinion on the idea of hoarding copper from 1981 and back. I first heard about this when I came across some youtube videos about this Asian guy who is fanatical about saving copper pennies. He has already saved over a million and stores them in different locations including his moms house, his apartment etc. He is of the belief that, like silver, the government will lift the law on melting copper and with copper at current prices, each copper penny will be worth over 2 cents in copper weight. I thought about this last night and for the heck of it, I went through a $25 box of lincolns and instead of just pulling out wheat, 2009 and 2010 lincolns, I also pulled out 1981 and back. I ended up with 9 rolls of copper! That is a lot of copper. I have plenty of room to store them if I chose to but I'm just not sure if it makes sense. Who knows when and if the government would lift that law or maybe the government may start pulling it out themselves. Also, what could I better spend my money on today than in 10 or 20 years? BUT there is this little part of me that wonders what if......If they did announce change the law can you imagine for those who had already saved a million pennys or more? They may be instantly rich!  What do you guys think? What's the possibility that the government would allow recyclers to accept copper pennies to melt? What impact would it have on collecting? Edited by johnstac
07/03/2010 6:30 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1406 Posts |
Type 'hoard copper' in the search to the left of this site and you will see a bunch of discussions on the topic.
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Rest in Peace
United States
1729 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
314 Posts |
The only value comes when copper becomes a precious metal and the 3 billion coins we have in our collections become worth about $30 per pound. We'll probably realize an interest rate of about .000025 percent from having hoarded all those 95% copper pennies....of which I have about 5,000. My $.02 (-:
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
I save them not to melt them someday but because many nice examples of pre-Zincoln Memorials are out there to be found but they are slowly disappearing. Many of these coins are 40 or even 50 years old - the equivalent of saving a 1914 wheat in 1964 or a 1934 wheat in 1984. The mintages of course were far higher, but it's still nice to have a hoard of old coins and I enjoy saving them.
Best regards,
Ken
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Valued Member
United States
60 Posts |
Just save the coppers and don't think about it. It will pay off someday! Lifting the melting ban? Who knows. You can always just sell them off as rolls for a nice profit (down the road).
Check out realcent forum.
Edited by stacksilver79
07/03/2010 7:51 pm
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Valued Member
United States
161 Posts |
I keep all the copper cents I come across whether from circulation or from roll searching. I've been doing this for a year and I already have over $100 in copper cents, and they are all in rolls by date and mintmark. I haven't decided what to do with them yet, but there are a few options. I could sell them for a slight profit on ebay, or I could save them for years until they are worth substantially more. Right now I want to buy a 1909-S cent, so I could use them to pay for that. I do enjoy looking through them and sorting them which I would say is different from just hoarding them. Since I am a college student and don't have a full-time job, I enjoy collecting coins that I only have to pay face-value for. |
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Valued Member
United States
420 Posts |
Quote:
Right now I want to buy a 1909-S cent, so I could use them to pay for that I can see you going into a coin shop now with a bucket of pennies  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19935 Posts |
Rich? No. A small return on your work? Yes. There's many people already selling them for bullion. The last calculation I made one guy was getting about 1.4 cents per after expenses.
Lincoln Cent Lover!VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/
Edited by BadThad
07/04/2010 12:18 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1042 Posts |
I hoarded them for awhile...and then I cashed them in.
It took me less than 6 months to box up $300 worth. (<<<That dollar amount doesn't include the wheats, S-mint memorials, or the other BU memorials that I continue to save.)
I keep the best ones, and toss back the rest. If the gov't ever does allow melting...that will make the ones I've saved worth even more imho. I remember reading history books about the "gold-rush" of 1849, and the "silver-boom" in the western states. Not so much about copper.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4541 Posts |
Quote:
One word: "silly". they said the same thing about silver  Quote:
Check out realcent forum. yup good group of knowledgeable guys over there. I keep all coppers. I have sold some for as a little more than 2 cent a piece at times. not going to double your money on many things like that. it is a lot of work, but your already roll searching anyway |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1208 Posts |
Copper must have gone down... I don't keep up with it, but a
while back (maybe last year) it was over .03c for each penny.
I have collected (hoarded) all my cents for 20 years or more.
Last year I went through them, about two 5 gallon buckets worth,
and separated them into 3 groups...
1: Copper (with wheat and indian subgroups of course).
2: Zinc in excellent AU/BU condition.
3: Zinc of no concern.
My bank has a free coin counter. I cashed in the 'bad'
zincs and pulled in over 200 bux.
The 'good' zincs filled 3 'bulk size' glass pickle jars.
The coppers filled about four 5 qt ice cream pails.
Now, instead of throwing my pocket pennies into a single
bucket, I separate them accordingly and throw them into
the appropriate bucket... copper, good zinc, spending zinc.
Maybe one day it will pay off. If not, it's fun anyway.
Not to mention I have been doing it for decades. I just
like the fact that once a year or so, when bored, I can
do a search. With this many coins, you ALWAYS find new
and interesting things everytime you browse through them.
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Valued Member
 United States
327 Posts |
I began thinking about the copper market when I was watching tv and saw them now installing aluminum wire. When I was an active electrician, we used to rewire homes that had been wired in aluminum. I sure hope they are making it differently now! Anyway I totally agree that if I am going to go through the rolls anyway and it's not a financial burden to do so, I will save my coppers.
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Valued Member
United States
303 Posts |
Quote:
this Asian guy I was thinking is it me... but I haven't got to that point.. yet. I would have never thought there is another Asian collecting copper pennies. lol I used to collect the copper pennies and I have a small (very small) bag full and I stopped. I would think buying a small gold coin (Mexican 2 peso size) and it would eventually be worth more than the copper and plus it saves space. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
781 Posts |
well, there's at least 3 asian guys collecting copper!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2424 Posts |
i collect copper as well. I mainly go through and sort out all the BU examples of 81 and prior. I put all the non BU copper in rolls and then try and sell them. havent had much luck with that. but I see that a lot of you collect S mint marked cents. I find A LOT here in SoCal. do you still sort out the S mint marks even if they are not BU? I'm wondering if I should start to do that regardless of condition?
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Replies: 58 / Views: 30,708 |
Posted 07/03/2010 7:04 pm
