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Pillar of the Community
527 Posts |
"JWR Replies: The density of copper and nickel are very close to each other. (Copper is .323 pounds per cubic inch, while nickel is .309) So they would have essentially comparable utility in making shaped charge backings. Copper only has a slight advantage.
It is more important note that the melting point of copper is 1,981° (Fahrenheit) and nickel is 2,646°. So I can see the utility of keeping plenty of older pennies around, for lost-wax casting. But my advice on that use is of course hypothetical, since it is currently illegal to melt pennies and nickels for profit in the U.S., and illegal to export them in bulk. I expect that this law will be repealed, once nickels of a new composition (probably stainless steel) reach wide circulation.
Gresham's Law dictates that the new (debased) coins will drive the old (genuine) coins out of circulation. I predict that once the base metal value of a current composition nickel hits twice it face value ("2X face"), they will disappear from circulation within a year. Presently, I estimate less than 1/10th of 1% of the U.S. population is actively saving nickels. But just wait until 20% of the population does so. Poof! They will be gone, seemingly overnight."
I made a topic similar to this about a month ago, and it seems that Mr. Rawles is still on his pedestal. Don't get me wrong. He's doing a really smart thing by telling folks to save their nickels, but he needs to stop assuming when/how they will disappear from circulation. IN May 2007, the US Nickel reached nearly double face value (9.7 cents to be exact) and they still didn't disappear from circulation. I'm sure that a bunch did when the metal value reached $0.097, but they must've been put back into circulation as the price of copper & nickel dropped hugely.
The part that annoys me the most is that he was so confident and cocky that the current 75/25 nickel would disappear back in 2008 all because of some bill, but when the bill died and failed to advance, he didn't even bother to offer some sort of apology to his subscribers; not even something like "Well guys it turns out that the US Mint will NOT be changing the metal content of their nickels. The bill that seemed almost certain to allow this to happen died and failed to advance in the House. But that's okay, because that gives us more time to stockpile on nickels at face value." Instead, this arrogant fool acts like nothing happened and just keeps repeating the same babble over and over again. I can't seem to find his email address because I want to give him a piece of my mind. I mean he could be right. Maybe the metal in nickels will grow to $0.50, $0.75, or even beyond that to new heights. I mean who knows? I just wish he'd stop fooling Americans into thinking they're going to get rich off of this because it's unlikely that they will (at least anytime soon).
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Pillar of the Community
 527 Posts |
James Rawles is like the Harold Camping of the coin community. You want to know how? He has never offered some sort of apology for being wrong, and in this case, he's been wrong on more than one occasion just like that stupid 89-year-old, arrogant, senile geezer who has gotten people to believe his garbage, but I digress from my point. I do save nickels simply because they're worth more than face value, but I keep an open mind and don't get high hopes that I'm going to strike it rich.
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Posted 06/12/2011 11:10 am
