Hoarding copper pennies

Hey guys I just ran across this guy's video and was wondering how you felt about what he had to say:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qJNfTzxcn8

 

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I think the comments in the video sum up the risks better than Andrew did - it is a felony to melt copper. I know a few people who are hoarding their pre-1982 pennies, but the benefits remain to be seen.

 

By the time it will be legal to finally melt those copper cents many have been hoarding, you could have cashed them in and invested the money in something else and came out far better. Although, I feel many people are hoarding them for numismatic reasons as well.

 

when it becomes legal to melt them then I will Start hoarding them.

 

I would say it all depends. If you are like me, a poor college student, who works a job to pay for tuition and rent etc., the extra money I have goes into coins I actually want in my collection. For people like me, I don't see the point in hoarding copper when you can use it to buy stuff you like for your collection and that you can actually sell if you need money. For a person who has a collection where they already have many of the coins that they want and are waiting to other items to come up to auction, as well as having your money invested in other interests such as the stock market etc., then I could see hoarding pennies.

As many on this thread have noted, it is illegal to melt pennies right now, so why tie up your money in this when you could put it into other things to enjoy. Yes, the people who have hoarded copper pennies will make bank (one guy commented on the video that his friend had 8 tons of pennies!) but I believe that the process legalizing the melting of copper will take a while allowing many people to go out and get a small hoard of coins to make a few dollars on.

When the time comes, start collecting copper pennies. But for now, unless you have extra money just laying around, spend your money on something to put into your collection that you will enjoy rather than something will just be sitting for a while.

 

Why melt them? As US Cents the weight and purity is guaranteed.

 

I don't hoard copper cents.....seems like way to much work!!

 

I'm basically a pack rat , so everytime I see a pre 82 cent I throw it into a jar , heck I might even be able to buy a big Mac one day .
rzage

 

Where do you even store 8 tons of pennies? :goofer:

 

Yeah, that's what I do. You never know what an old cent will bring you tomorrow.

 

I was thinking the same thing. I have a friend that hoards copper from electrical wire and he can put 50-70 pounds in a 5 gal bucket.

Let see if you have 8 tons of Lincoln cents you would have 2,464,000 cents. I can't even imagine how much room that would take up.

 

I've wondered what happens if your stash starts to corrode? Can you imagine 8 tons of copper pennies sitting together - it wouold be like a plaque for those coins.

Now I know nothing about melting them - maybe it wouldn't matter. However if you decided one day to spend/cash them in it might make bringing them to the bank and putting them through the sorting machine a little difficult!

 

Sounds very unrealistic!!

 

By my rough calculations 2,464,000 pennies rolled and boxed would be about 492 boxes or a stack one box deep and 7 feet long by 7 feet high. Not really that much of a storage problem. In fact I'd guess that there are quite a few people with hoards that large.

 

I admit that I also pull pre-1982 Pennies out of change given to me and place them in a bag by my desk. I like the Idea that each is worth about 2c in reality over the 1c face value and I bet a lot of people were thought foolish for hording silver before we were allowed to legally melt them?

 

My feelings too. Need a place to store them. Have to go out looking for them. Need gas in my car to go finding those Copper coins. Then finally trying to find a smelter that will give you money for those Copper coins and you find they don't give you what is called melt, they give you much less. Now you go home in your car, noting you now pay close to $3/gallon of gas, your time, you are now in the hole for about a few hundred dollars.

 

I feel the same way. My son and I roll search cents for varieties and now keep all coppers. He gets a kick out of the fact they are worth 2 cents now and may be worth much more by the time he is my age. TC

 

I don't understand why people are so negative about this other than the typical, "your not doing it the way I do it so your way must be wrong," type of argument. Maybe I am taking this too personal but since I am sorting pennies anyway why is it so crazy to keep one's from pre 1982 if they have some additional value. Ofcoarse opinions were asked for so I cannot fault people for giving them.

IMO, if it adds to the enjoyment to the time you spend collecting/hoarding then I don't think it is crazy if you keep pre 1982 pennies especially if that is what your budget allows. However, I undertsand if you have 100's of graded MS-66+ plus old coins sitting in a safe deposit box then keeping a cent worth $0.018999 might seem a little silly.

 

I don't hoard copper pennies, I do save the nicer pre-1982 and toss in a jar. Hoping one day a nephew will want to search them. I do search every piece of pocket change I get. A few times I keep one with a neat die crack, but that is it. I see nothing wrong with sorting and keeping copper pennies.

OOps forget I do hoard some pre-1982 copper, but they are a little larger like this.

 

Yeah I hear you!! The word "hoarding" has taken on a life of it's own in society and now carries a "sick mind" connotation to it. I have maybe 100 cents I've saved so far, so I'm just a collector.