Copper Cents (Pre-1982) Worth More Than Face Value?

Clear a spot in the dry basement and keep them for the long haul. Just today on MSNBC they were talking about all the copper cents that are still in circulation.Copper prices are going up big time and if you have the space and the patience it's worth the keep by the pound.



And also......think about all the up and coming collectors that will have nothing but zincolns to collect.

yes def sort and sell as fast as you can

The hoarder negative aspect ------
if someone hoards $5,000 in copper cents and it takes them 10-20 years to lift the ban
even if they get 3-4cents each for scrap copper that $10,000 profit%15,000
If the ban gets lifted, it may never
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BUT A GUY SORTING AND SELLING can make more+++++++
A guy that sorts $5,000 in copper per year and sells them for 1.5 cents each
will gross $7500 thats net $2,500 PROFIT TODAY NOT IN YEARS DOWN THE ROAD
If he can keep doing this for 5 years he has made $12,500 profit
10 years $25,000 profit (if copper stays high in price and people keep buying)

while the guy sitting on his hoard of $5,000 will have $5,000 invested
sitting waiting 5,10,20 years
maybe the copper value goes up maybe it goes down? if copper levels off in 10-20 years at $2-3 a lb no one knows if people will want that hoard at more then 2-3 cents a coin.

While the reseller has sold 100$ lots over and over and made $12,500 in 5 years
With cash flow comming in every week he does not have to spend $5k to hoard at one time. But can start out with as little as 100$ worth of cents at a time and sell one bag a week on ebay( 52 weeks a year ) making his first $2,500 in one year using the earned cash to buy machines more copper and speed up production as long as people are buying he might even get to sorting and selling $10,000 a year in copper cents making 5k a year profit

It makes sense to buy and sell buy and sell. Untill the copper supply is so low its hard to do it any more.
Even then a hoarder will die and the copper pennies will be brought to a dealer that offers 1cent each and back to circulation they go to be sorted and sold

Agree with Numisnut....wheat cents are bringing about 3 cents a piece, I look for pre-zincolns to do the same if not more.

Find them. Keep them. Ya just never know. Some will say "Oh, well it's illegal to melt cents." Big deal. Laws change. And this one probably will also. Get excited. Have a little fun.

In my view,hoarding 82 and older copper cents is the biggest, safest, no-brainer overlay, I have ever encountered. You find something worth 2.8 cents about 18-20% of the time. (in some parts of the country the % is much higher). While you are searching for the coppers, you also find wheat cents,(sold by most dealers @ 5-7 cent apiece, and purchased by them - at 2-3 cents apiece). You can also find MS BU Red coins (worth far more than face value now, and who knows what in the future)... There is also the one year 2009 type set, with 8 varieties, all locatable, and at least for the time being often in mint state. Finally you have the first year of newest cent, and (certain in my mind to be the last variety) Blazing examples of the shield cent are everywhere in MS 64+ and I have found four that I believe are full MS66

Wheat cents, copper memorials, zinc memorials, 2009 one year type set, first year of the last Lincoln Cent series - and I hear it is even possible to find Indians out there! And there is even the chance of finding errors, double dates, WAMS & CAMS, double dates, small dates - good grief! What's not to like?

Finally, the cent itself is soon to disappear. Governments everywhere are broke or getting there... it will not be long until the United States does away with the cent as many other governments have done (New Zealand, Australia, all ready - and Canada soon). Once the cent is gone, the ban against melting will soon follow.

Like the silver coinage during the late sixties, the copper Lincoln Cent will RAPIDLY disappear from circulation - once people get the idea to save them. I truly hope they are slow in figuring it out

I know some dive into copper hoarding by getting thousands and thousands of copper pennies. I have no doubt that copper pennies will be worth much more in the future. I'm sure people were thinking those that were hoarding pre 64 silver coins in 1965 as crazy but look at how they are worth 23x fv right now!

What I do is anytime I get change, I go through and take out the copper pennies and put them into a ziplock. I started do it after 6 months ago and have maybe 500+ pennies. hey its a slow process but not taking much of my time or money. I will keep doing this, not in any rush.

I sort for copper pennies and I have been consitantly selling them for 1.5 times face. Definitly worth it but its time consuming