Thread: Copper Pennies

Hey guys,

What are you views on copper penny hoarding? is it worth it? also, is there a machine out there that works faster then handsorting and wont cost you an arm? would you reccomend just buying bullion bars? alotta questions but I'm just tryin to get people views on copper and investing in it. Feel free to post pictures of your copper hoard!!

Good coin sorting machine will cost you a leg, too! Unless you have many thousands of coins, it's not worth the expense.

Copper bullion has so much of a premium, you won't see a profit from it in your lifetime.

There are others here hoarding copper cents for whatever reason, but I don't think it's worth the trouble.

BTW In the USA, they are "cents" not "pennies".

There is a machine that sorts them, I just don't know how much it costs. I get more enjoyment out of doing it by hand, you can find some real nice coins.

Wow, another post at the same time.

There are Ryedale coin sorters that compare coins to a target specimen that you place in the device. Silver, copper, whatever and it will sort those out for you.

I roll search, so as a result, I save all my copper cents. The copper value in a copper cent is more than the face value of the coin, so my feeling is that if I can save $100 a month. Why not save it in cents that would have $200+ in metal value ? At the very least, I can spend the coins and will have my $100. At best, I can sell them for a couple of cents each and have $200 or more. It might not be worth the effort just to go after copper, but I certainly haven't had any luck finding Silver while searching. I mean, I have spent perhaps 200 hours searching silver in the past year and not found a single coin. So, is that worth the effort ? Not to me it hasn't been. I would rather search for things that can be found, than to spend my time looking for things I can't find.

Just sayin'

thanks gary, and ik rick I just tend to use them interchangably

I also save my copper cents. I search 3 to 4 bank boxes a week, mainly looking for varieties. As i sort them i separate them, the copper goes into one tub, and zinc in another. The zinc i take to my banks coin machine, its free, coinstar is 9.9%. Everyonce in a while i dip into the coppertub to buy a coin i really want. A few months ago i cashed in and bought a 1909 s vdb ms 63 rb from david lawerance. I almost use it like a saving account of sorts. Im in my 70s so the value of cooper for me is not there. But if i was a much younger man i would save my copper. Back in my day you could get silver a face value, image if we saved our change bAck then, you would have a pile of money. I might never see copper hit 20 dollars a pound in my lifetime, but many of you might. Just something to think about.

I agree with amosa. I save all the copper cents. I do about 1 bank box a week and HAND sort them because that gives me a chance to look for wheats, indians, copper, DD's, WAM'S, off-centered, etc. I think it is totally worth it since you get about a 300% return for every copper penny. In the 1970's and even 1980's, silver coins were very alive in change since a dime would be worth maybe 12 cents and a quarter worth 29 cents. SO why n ot get on the boat early and get you FREE copper cents before there as hard to find as silver coins.

I think it's best to hoard copper if you already enjoy searching pennies for oddities and old coins.

Pros - Copper could be worth big bucks. You get that cent for a penny - and can sell them potentially for 3x face value. If the laws of melting are repealed, it may be even more than that. And again - if you already enjoy cherry picking - then why not? I love to cherry pick, and I save all kinds of different things - like all 1970S pennies, because I was born in 1970 in San Fran. So - I just get a 5 gallon pail for coppers 1959-1981 and will be starting my second pail soon. You won't find THAT many - that quick - but it's a good investment and face it - if someone breaks into your house, they won't be stealing your hoard of coppers. That would require work! I recommend if you hoard, to intend to hoard them for a few decades.

Cons - The markets could collapse - you DO have a safety net though of one cent per copper. So you really can't lose - but maybe putting the money in the bank might have been better? They're bulking - Holding 50,000 pennies is a task - the same reason someone won't really steal them. There is no melting of them as of yet and no timetable to when there will be. This will be a lot of work to separate.

Again - I think it's a great idea to hoard coppers, but you really gotta like doing that kind of thing. If you want QUICK money - getting a second job is probably a better idea. If you like to sift through coins and hope you get lucky and hoard a little bit in the process - then it's perfect.

I sell my copper at 2X face. I then take the profit and buy silver. So in effect I'm buying silver at half price.

Yeah, those sorting machines cost way too much to be worth it in most cases. As for hording your copper cents, sure, why not? I mean, all it costs you is a little bit of time. And if the ban on melting copper cents is never lifted, hey you still have the money, you know?

Do I save my copper cents? Absolutely. Do I put forth an excessive amount of effort to do so? Nah. I just pick up a few rolls of pennies to go through every time I pick up rolls for silver, error searching, or looking for old coins. Takes like 5 minutes over the search for what I'm already looking for.

To test the waters, a couple of weeks ago I sold $50FV on ebay. When all the fees, etc. were said and done, I made 1.2 cents per each copper. It was barely worth the effort, I was hoping the auction would close higher than $81. I'll probably unload a couple more $50 lots because my 5 gal copper pail is nearly full from searching. At least they go to a good home. LOL

Would I buy a Rydale? Sorry, no way, it would take a lot of work to make it pay for itself. Would I go out of my way and buy cents just to sort out the copper? Sorry, another no way....it takes too much time and trouble. The ONLY reason I have copper is because I search for errors, varieties, red BU, etc. I can't see returning it to the bank when I can at least make a little $$$ from it.

I think everyone should hoard copper cents. I started a couple months ago, I look at it like a cheap retirement fund. My overall goal is about 1000lbs which might not sound like alot to some. But in 25 years I will either have a gold mine or I get to start rolling them all back up to return for FV either way it's win win! All the articles I have read say that the copper mines are going to dry up between now and 2018 and no new discoveries have been made. Also keep in mind that the more people that start hoarding the less there will be in circulation which could also drive the price up.