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 Replies: 9 / Views: 2,456 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
721 Posts |
I thought I would bring up an interesting point. I know I've read it somewhere before in this forum, but can't remember when. The question is whether the melt value in a US nickel is worth more copper or nickel. A 5 gram US nickel is 75% Cu and 25% Ni by mass. That is, the Cu/Ni mass ratio is 3:1. Interestingly, the Cu/Ni melt price ratio is around 1:3. (Today it is 1:2.79.) So for a US Nickel, the base metal price is about the same for Cu (3.7 cents) as it is for Ni (3.4 cents). I've heard comments that keeping alloys for melt is not as good as keeping purer alloys, but I still thought it was interesting that the Cu and Ni base worth is about the same in the US nickel.
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Valued Member
United States
213 Posts |
Using the latest metal prices, these are the numbers required to calculate melt value of the (25% Cu/75% Ni) US 5-Cent Nickel:
$4.4742 = copper price / pound on Apr 08, 2011. 75% = copper %
$12.4812 = nickel price / pound on Apr 08, 2011. 25% = nickel %
5.00 = total weight in grams
.00220462262 = pound/gram conversion factor (see note directly below)
The NYMEX uses pounds to price these metals, that means we need to multiply the metal price by .00220462262 to make the conversion to grams.
1. Calculate 75% copper value :(4.4742 x .00220462262 x 5.00 x .75) = $0.0369892
2. Calculate 25% nickel value :(12.4812 x .00220462262 x 5.00 x .25) = $0.0343950
3. Add the two together :$0.0369892 + $0.0343950 = $0.0713842
$0.0713842 is the melt value for the US nickel on April 08, 2011.
That means yes, the copper in a Nickel is worth $.0025942 (2.6 10ths of a Cent) more than the Nickel content, but more importantly it means - SAVE ALL YOUR NICKELS BECAUSE THEY ARE WORTH 7.1 CENTS EACH!
The Danester,
Edited by Danester
04/08/2011 6:47 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
834 Posts |
7.1 cents each!
Throw them back don't even bother
do you know the cost of refining metals
.999 pre 1982 Canadian nickels are the only way to go. Only ones worth saving
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
swrbxxx is 100% correct. I guess the pure Canadian nickels are disappearing rapidly.
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Valued Member
United States
213 Posts |
History of composition of Canadian 5-Cent piece
Years .....Mass .....Diameter/Shape .....Composition 2000--present ..3.95 g ....21.2 mm round, ....94.5% steel, 3.5% copper, 2 nickel plating 1982--1999(some production until 2006) ...4.6 g ...21.2 mm round, ....75 copper, 25% nickel 1963--1981 ......4.54 g ......21.21 mm round, ....99.9% nickel 1955--1962 ......4.54 g ......21.21 mm 12-sided, ....99.9% nickel 1951--1954 ......4.54 g ......21.21 mm 12-sided, ....chrome-plated steel 1946--1951 ......4.54 g ......21.21 mm 12-sided, ....99.9% nickel 1944--1945 ......4.54 g ......21.21 mm 12-sided, ....chrome-plated steel 1942--1943 ......4.54 g ......21.21 mm 12-sided, ....88% copper, 12% zinc ("tombac") 1922--1942 ......4.54 g ......21.21 mm round, ....99.9% nickel1920--1921 .....1.167 g ....14.494 mm round, ....80% silver, 20% copper 1858--1919 .....1.167 g ....14.494 mm round, ....92.5% silver, 7.5% copper Calculating today's value of the 99.9% Nickel Canadian 5-Cent. (12.4812 x .00220462262 x 4.54 Ã- .999) = $0.12479909 Thanks for the tip.... the 99.9% Canadian Nickels are today worth 12.47 Cents each ! 
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Actually, it's the tombac Beaver that I like. Has to be at least AU. I have a complete type set 1922-99. I was reviewing my collection of world coins some time ago, and found it would be easy to complete the type set. So I did.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
They make money off the production of quarters and dimes right? So why can't they just simply switch the nickel's composition to the quarter and dime clad?
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Valued Member
United States
213 Posts |
With 99.9% Nickel they must have broken a lot of dies. Are there a lot of die cracks seen on these Canadian 99.9% Nickels?
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Quote:
So why can't they just simply switch the nickel's composition to the quarter and dime clad?
The clad switch worked because it saved silver. The nickel is already 75% copper, where clad is 91.67% copper. A clad quarter is already almost 6¢ in metal content, and weighs 13% more than a nickel. Using clad for nickels would still make them contain $.0514 in metal, unless, of course, they made them the size of Half Dimes. |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Danester: The metal composition of the current canadian Nickel as you have indicated intrigues me.
As I understand it, an alloy is a metallic solid solution of two metals, and steel is an alloy of carbon and iron.
Just as oil and water will not dissolve into each other, so copper and iron will not either. Therefore, the copper part of the current Canadian nickel must be in the outer plating in association with the nickel.
Is that in fact the case?
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Replies: 9 / Views: 2,456 |
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Posted 04/08/2011 8:59 pm
