Will Nickels Stop Circulating Soon?

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by brandon08967, Apr 5, 2021.

  1. brandon08967

    brandon08967 Young Collector

    Now that the melt value of cupronickel nickels is above 5¢ per nickel, do you think they're going to be hoarded? I was not alive to silver disappear from circulation, which I heard was very sudden, but I have definitely seen the gradual disappearance of copper cents from circulation (I guess they're still around but definitely being taken out of circulation.) What, if anything, do you think will happen to common nickels?
     
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  3. potty dollar 1878

    potty dollar 1878 Well-Known Member

    No nickels will be nickels i only keep silver and any under 1960.You would have to hoard hundreds of thousands not worth it for a cent more each.
     
  4. Evan Saltis

    Evan Saltis OWNER - EBS Numis LLC Supporter

    If you can find somewhere to buy nickels for more than 5 cents for melt I'd be surprised.
     
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  5. potty dollar 1878

    potty dollar 1878 Well-Known Member

    Just my 6th sense;).
     
  6. TheGame

    TheGame Well-Known Member

    Nickels have gone over 5 cents in metal before with no noticeable effect on how they circulate. It would take the intrinsic value getting significantly higher than face for them to start being hoarded. Copper cents have been between 2-3x face for many years now and they're still regularly seen in circulation.
     
  7. William F

    William F Well-Known Member

    Cupro-nickel prices would have to shoot thru the roof to get people to start pulling from circulation and hoarding, and looking at price charts for cupro-nickel, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon...
    Only reason to pull nickels is if they're silver or if your filling a book IMO
     
  8. cpm9ball

    cpm9ball CANNOT RE-MEMBER

    Like copper pennies, nickels are an alloy, and as such would sell for a lot less than face value to reclamation centers if they were to be melted.
     
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  9. SensibleSal66

    SensibleSal66 U.S Casual Collector / Error Collector

    I think people have bigger things to worry about than hoarding Nickels in today's world .:(
     
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  10. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    When the silver in a fifty-cent piece was worth seventy cents, finding one at face value and selling it for silver value would get you enough profit to buy a hamburger.

    If the metal in a five-cent piece were worth seven cents -- and it isn't yet, it's currently worth around 5.3 cents -- you'd need to sell FIFTY of them "for metal value" to earn enough profit to buy a hamburger.

    But what happens when the metal is worth fifty cents, or five dollars? Well, by then, the burger will probably cost ten bucks, or a hundred.

    Cash in nickels, buy equities. I still have a jar of nickels and a box of rolls, but I don't pretend that it's anything other than hoarding disorder.
     
  11. Blasty

    Blasty Gold Member

    As stated before, the intrinsic value of a nickel has gone above five cents before. I have not seen any reduction in circulating nickels just from casual observation. I have noticed increasingly fewer copper cents.

    I pull the nickels and copper aside when I sort my change, knowing full well that it isn't going to pay off big within my lifetime, if ever. It's just harmless fun. Someday I may look over them for interesting varieties. Nothing else in circulation is worth its face value.
     
  12. Conder101

    Conder101 Numismatist

    Something else to consider is that the THEORETICAL or spot value has gone over the face value, but once refining costs and profit requirements of the recycler are figured in (which would reduce what you would receive for the metal) the value is still less than 5 cents apiece
     
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  13. Mr. Flute

    Mr. Flute Well-Known Member

    But I do and will continue to pull out and hoard any 100% nickel Canadian 5 cent coins I come across.

    No messing with an alloy. They're pure nickel. :)
     
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  14. manny9655

    manny9655 Well-Known Member

    It costs the mint more than 5 cents to make a nickel. They've been experimenting with using just copper for some time. I expect the Mint to make a change in the near future, they're talking about changing the composition of all our coins. Everything but the dime costs them more than face value to make.
     
  15. manny9655

    manny9655 Well-Known Member

    Pre-1982 are all nickel, I think. The newer ones are not.
     
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  16. Jeffjay

    Jeffjay Well-Known Member

    I've been searching rolls of them for years. Think I have about $800 worth.
    I often think about bringing them to the bank but then talk myself out of it because of the weight and the wait involved in the time it would take for them to be counted.
     
  17. brandon08967

    brandon08967 Young Collector

    I definitely noticed changes after taking 4-5 years off from CRH. I used to average 8-12 copper cents per roll but in my latest box, I averaged 2-7 (also a lot fewer 09s than I remember finding in the past.) I also noticed a lot fewer 40s-70s nickels. I used to not give nickels after 1963 much of a thought but I really noticed the scarcity with my latest hunt.
     
  18. coin dog

    coin dog Well-Known Member

    Nickel is an industrial metal, and not a precious metal.

    Besides, it is illegal to melt nickels and cents.
     
  19. Rushmore

    Rushmore Coin Addict

    I thought you could melt coins as long as it wasn't for illegal activities
     
  20. CoinJockey73

    CoinJockey73 Well-Known Member

    I have quite a few Canadian nickels, hundreds, possibly. I see there are specific years that this occurs. Thanks for the tip!
     
  21. johnmilton

    johnmilton Well-Known Member

    Unless you are going to save them by the dump truck load and hoard them in a huge warehouse, you wouldn’t have a gross margin that will amount to anything. Even so, the storage costs would eat up all the profits.

    On the positive side, you won’t have to worry about the rats eating you hoard, unlike the situation if you storing something like corn. :chicken:
     
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