Copper Bullion as an investment

Discussion in 'Bullion Investing' started by sunflower, Feb 18, 2010.

  1. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    It happens man No biggie. If a post is old but is covering a topic you are concerned with, you can also just start a new thread and ask your question.

    If you are wondering about copper as an investment, its different than a PM. The bad is finding a buyer and size. The good is that its an industrial metal and demand will increase with the economy, something not necessarily true of other PM. I think more bars and rounds made to be sold to investors are overpriced, but if you can find an economical way to buy it, you can always sell to scrap yards. Another idea is to buy copper wire. I bought a bunch of romex wiring when it got cheaper again a couple of years ago. I use it some, but will probably sell it if it gets too pricey.
     
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  3. mkoenig

    mkoenig New Member

    I have to agree with that, i think that the melt value on a $25 box of pennies is $35-$40. You can't beat that with a stick.

    Just wish it was legal to melt them down :)
     
  4. JrCoin

    JrCoin resident Michigander

    copper bars serve their purposes...

    Hey, I don't own any copper bars but a couple might be cool...they would make great paper weights, and door stops, or if you just wanted to bulk up a safe so someone would have a hard time moving it, copper bars would be great. It's an attractive, useful metal, and it's a good thing it's cheap because we use a LOT of it. I can think of worse things to have lying around. If you're looking for an investment or inflation hedge, I wouldn't get too excited about copper. The storage issue, the shear amount you would need to make any decent sized investment, ugh, no thank you. I'll take quality over quantity when it comes to copper. Of course, it would be interesting to see what kind of role pre 82 cents could take on in hyper-inflation period. If silver is poor man's gold, what do you go with when silver gets too expensive? Copper could be poor man's silver. Actually I think of Aluminum as poor man's silver, being from Michigan with the 10 cent deposit. All those college kids with shopping carts full of empty beer cans, man oh man.
     
  5. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    I kind of do this, but with lead. Anytime I have ever seen lead in garage sales or auctions I have bought them. Lead ingots are incredibly useful around a shop/house, as is bags of lead shot. I really do not know how much lead has gone up, (if it has), but they are too handy to have around for me to sell any, lol.
     
  6. passantgardant

    passantgardant New Member

    I concur, pre-82 pennies are cheaper than bullion. The problem is if you want to build an immediate hoard of significant size, slowly collecting pennies won't work. Copper bullion coins or bars are too expensive. The thing is, while copper will always have value and track inflation, it will never achieve the kind of mania pricing that gold and silver will. Also, as was mentioned before, to collect any significant value of copper would require a lot of storage space. I think the most useful form of copper is either 1/2" or 3/4" copper water pipe or #10 or #12 copper wire. Then it's in a form that is readily salable (not just to collectors, but to plumbers and electricians) and will tend to track inflation well. It also carries a premium to the copper price in that form which should carry forward with inflation as well.
     
  7. Lon Chaney

    Lon Chaney Well-Known Member

    I think copper is good for a SHTF scenario. Yes, copper cents are good. But copper rounds and smaller bars would be good for everyday purchases. Silver and gold would be for more expensive things.
    Also, some of the rounds and bars out there are real attractive pieces, even if you're just buying them for the "coin art" aspect.
    Here's pics of a round that I bought a few of:
    Copper Indian Round Obv (small).jpg Copper Indian Round Rev (small).jpg
     
  8. passantgardant

    passantgardant New Member

    They look nice, but I just can't justify the premiums over spot as compared to silver. Or as compared to pre-82s which actually have a negative premium. Do you know of a source of bullion copper coins that doesn't have crazy premiums?
     
  9. Relichunter2

    Relichunter2 New Member

    If you can get it at the right price, hey why not.... Listen when I was contracting the price of a 500 foot role of copper 12 g wire was running me 30 bucks, today its 60. I wish I would have stock piled copper wire. By the way that gos for lead to.
     
  10. Lon Chaney

    Lon Chaney Well-Known Member

    That I do not. I imagine the more rounds you buy, the lower the premium is. However, making the planchets, striking the coins, and polishing them (or whatever they do to make them proof-like), and paying the guy doing it is probably more costly than the copper itself. That's probably the reason for the premiums? Maybe?
     
  11. Radar U

    Radar U New Member

    Hi everyone.
    I am new and my name is Chris.I just joined because I find copper rounds/bullion an interesting possibility when diversifying in various investment metals.Plus,I very much like coin collecting as a hobby altogether.
    Anyhow...These copper rounds have the premium that takes them over spot for several reasons.They are: because of mintage costs,the dies being made,paying the workers running them,and secondly,because copper is only $4.25 / lb at this time.If copper was $16 or more / lb,different story.If they were plain planchets with no mintings,then they'd probably be right at or a little above spot.You can purchase these directly from the mint that makes them and they usually do give discounts on larger purchases.I have not bought any from a mint but have purchased off of eBay with good results and paying $1.49 / rnd.Other sellers are selling single copper rnds for $4 each and up so investor interest IS growing in them.The only unfortunate part is that unlike silver,you cannot use them as investments in an IRA.At least at this time.
    The dies used are very similar to proof coin dies.Highly polished,bold relief,etc...to produce top quality struck bullion coins.While I do like the minted copper rnds and have acquired a number of them,I would prefer to purchase plain copper slugs or planchets for lower investing costs.However,for those interested in bullion and avoiding the premiums,I would suggest collecting 1981 and earlier pennies.That is as cheap as it gets to legally collect copper bullion and yes,people ARE buying them AT spot price on eBay as bulk pennies.
    In the long run,I think copper will be a fairly safe investment in limited quantities,but you'll have to limit how much you invest in as they get heavy and there's only so much you can carry on your person for bartering if/when the USD finally falls.I don't think copper will ever have the esteeem and glory of silver or gold,but,it has been used as currency for thousands of years,so it DOES have a background in being used for bartering.
    All the best!
    Chris
     
  12. Doug21

    Doug21 Coin Hoarder

    just hoard nickels, then you'll be well under spot prices.
     
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