Should we be jumping on the penny hoarding bandwagon??

Pre 1982 2.65 copper cent ratio? I missed the apparent show on the morning news about penny hoarding, but did get a few inquiring phone calls from disconnected friends on the subject. Have any of you started penny hoarding? I hear you can buy a machine for $500 that will automatically sort the copper pennys from post 1982. Could anyone give me a link, or more information on the subject? I have a lot of storage in my garage, and some time on my hands. Also, I have no doubt that the price of copper will go up, but is it prooven that this law will be passed allowing us to melt down pennys? Thanks.

 

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You can get online and type in Ryedale Coin. I've been searching for pre 82's for a while now. Not aggressively, but once in awhile I will buy a $25 box at the bank and go through it. I have 52 lbs. worth right now. Been finding on average 11-13 pre 82's per roll. Some of the 1982's are copper. A few people are weighing the 82's to determine which are copper. Takes too much time in my opinion. I just toss them in with all the post 82's. I don't plan on getting rich at this for sure, but it is kinda fun looking for "Wheaties" and varieties. When I buy a box at a bank, I sort it and take all the post 82's to a different bank than the one I bought them from.

 

Since there are still so many circulating... It's going to be quite some time before they pass any such law allowing the melting of cents.

 

I guesss you can't really lose on this investment.

 

Depends on the volume. If you have thousands of dollars of cents socked away, there are other areas of investment that may pay better.

 

i have been keeping them in a jar just in case they decide to okay it. the jar is a one gallon pickle jar, i have it about 1/4 of the way full. but i wouldn't go out and buy the machine until they okay the melting of the copper cent.


Mizozuman2

 

I was thinking about it and as a newbie to coin collecting I hope im not to far off,but if they ever do approve the melting of copper pennies and say 10 years goes by of massive melting..wouldnt the people that collect them and hold on to them cash in big time because they would at this time be so few left?

 

I don't know about all of that. I'm going to read up on it. The key here is whether or not that law gets passed.... One thing that I am sure about is that the price of copper is going to continue to go up. China is expanding its info-structure x10. An estimated 200-400 Million people are moving from farming communities out west, to the shipping ports and cities on the East China Sea. That is more than the entire population of the United States. The result is going to be much like the massive info-structure of the U.S. during the baby boom. I could see the price of copper tripling. So I could see this as a wise hobby/investment on your spare time. Say for instance you invested 500 dollars in a sorting machine, bought some large buckets, and spent an hour in your day doing this; it wouldn't take long at all for it to pay off. It is a very simple operation. Go to the bank, buy $100 dollars in pennies, go home dump them in a sorter. Put them in your bucket, and set the other bucket aside to take to your other feed bank the next day. Say for instance 20% of the pennies were pre 1982, that is roughly 10 a roll, or 20 dollars worth in copper pennies. If this law passed, as it stands, you would have 53 dollars worth of copper per 100 dollars worth that you initially bought. The 53 dollars in copper comes from 20 dollars worth of pennies that you are physically holding, so you have a profit margin of 33 dollars at the current copper price. Multiply 53 dollars in copper x 100 (estimate 6 months time) and you have $5,300 dollars worth of copper while holding $2,000 in physical pennies (200,000 pennies). That is very feasible if you are committed, and have some time on your hands. Say hypothetically if the price of copper triples, you have close to $16,000 dollars in copper. I know this is a lot of speculation, but it seems fairly simple to me.

 

I do have a decent hoard.

But keep in mind, you won't get the copper spot price if you take them in to be melted (assuming the law changes someday). You need to look at what scrap yards pay for various grades of copper and brass. Of course, you might do better selling them to another hoarder rather than a metal recycler.

 

As a roll searcher, I have always pulled the copper. Why dump something back that has a metal content worth 2-3 times the FV ? Of course, the quantity I can save is fairly small and does not affect my living budget. I figure, if needed, I could take them to the bank at any time.

My thought is that as soon as the ban on melting them is lifted, they will disappear by the millions. Then, the collectible copper will either die or become more expensive.

The thing about collecting is, that unless a coin series is available in circulation, it doesn't attract many new collectors. Few people start this hobby buying expensive coins for a set. At this point in time, who can say what will happen with cent prices ? But doesn't it make you sick to think that a corporate hoarder is pulling perhaps keys or semis and setting aside for melting without even bothering to look ? It does me, but that's what we are all about, turning a buck. Of course, the bigger the scale, the more bucks to be made.

gary

 

I've been doing it over a year, not because of the copper. I've found ky fair share of wheats and varieties, that's what's satisfying me. I've got about 280 lbs saved up, they are bulky and take up room, that's for sure.

 

Very nice.

 

I've got a few hundred pounds as well. I've been through each and every one of them so they're nothing special except for their copper content. Eventually, they'll probably wind up back in circulation because I can't see copper cents being melted legally in my lifetime. And if they are, rest assured the only people that will make any real money will be the refiners. Once they discount the coins for the refining out of impurites, handling and whatever, sellers will probably get about face value.

 

I don't know haw important the melt ban is because you can sell pennies for 1.3 to 1.7x's face right now. Not a great amount if you are doing a small amount but a decent supplement if it is worth your time. Aside from gas and possibly a sorting machine the biggest "cost" is a persons time. We make choices every day about how we use are time. For some people this is a worthwhile use of time mostly because they enjoy it, for others it is not, I think it may be as simple as that.

 

china has their own housing bubble looming. IMO the coin will still be there when/if the law passes. I will wait and see is a market for pennies developes.



***edit***

I stand corrected. these are selling on the bay as we speak. You would have to find a bank that really loves you to sort that much copper though!

 

I would hoard copper if I could actually read the dates easily on the cents. It just takes me too long to look through a box of cents these days. I have to use a magnifying glass most of the time. Not to mention, how dang dirty they are.

 

I only have just over $50.00 in copper cents. No big deal but I can convert it into paper and pay a bill one of these days.

 

i guess it wouldn't hurt to hoard them. if they don't pass it, then at least you have tons of pennies laying around. you could take them to walmart and buy something expensive with them and watch the cashiers face... :devil:

 

I don't think you'd get 10-20 % copper cents doing this, I think more like 2-5 %. This would earn you about $0-1/ hour doing it.