Investing in Copper.. Thoughts?

didn't someone already post that they sold 5000 copper cents ($50 face value) for a profit of around $40 ($90 total). Seems you can just sell the already sorted copper on eBay and get more than face value. Of course fees and shipping eat some of the profit, but it's all profit depending on what you value your time spent in sorting and selling.

 

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It's fun though, or at least I think so. I've been saving them for several years. Gonna retire on them one day.....

 

Point well taken..

 

It is not a RARE metal. However, copper, silver and gold all appear in the same column of the periodic table of elements. It's something to think about.

Coins can be considered one of the highest and best uses of copper. Their weight and purity are known. The intrinsic value of a copper cent is small, but real. A law prohibiting the melting of coins doesn't change that.

 

Investing in copper? Is there a plumber in the house?

 

ok, cloud, I understand what you're saying but here's an example of what I'm saying:

There's more than 25¢ worth of silver in a quarter and you can readily buy and sell it to a refiner for melt price. Copper coins have no such market as they cannot be melted. So what does the owner of all of these cents do with them?

 

I think the funniest thing about the law that was recently passed to stop people from melting the pennies and selling the copper was hearing the congressman (don't remember which one) sayings, "I don't want anyone melting my pennies that I need to use for money," or some such comment. If people pull the copper pennies from circulation and hoard them, what good is the law......it doesn't serve its purpose as the congressman had intended? The pennies whether melted or hoarded are still leaving circulation.

 

Truth be told about 90% silver junk coins. Nobody actually melts them down. If you sell them to a smelter, the smelter is more likely to sell them back to a coin dealer, who can make an immediate profit for the smelter and himself. If the smelter decided to melt the silver coins, the value would be less and the cost of energy to smelt it wouldn't be worth it. So, while bullion has it's value in the content of the metal, industries aren't going to use 90% silver coins when 99.99% silver is still so readily available on the market.

Yet, people still buy 90% silver coins just as if they were 99.99% silver. The same would hold true for the copper pennies. Nobody really would want to melt them down....they'll be worth much more as curios from a time long past with a guarantee of quality.

 

I don't think the lack of a market for copper coins as bullion is due to the fact they can't be melted. I think it's due to the facts that (1) the difference between face value and intrinsic value is very small, and (2) the price is so volitile and recent that no market has developed -- YET.

 

It is correct that 90% silver coinage is not refined by smelters but believe me they are melted for the production of silver alloy. The coins are dumped into the pot as is and other metals are added to produce the alloy intended. That is why sterling scrap doesn't carry the premium of US coin silver. US coin silver is manufactured to homogenous strict alloy tolerances while sterling can can be an alloy of unknowns so to speak.

 

why not just buy some Freeport Mc? FCX. It's a miner of gold and copper and up triple digits this year. Or for pure play try Southern Copper PCU.

rono

 

Well not to bring up an old thread,but I am a jack- of-all-trades master of none type guy,anything to make a dollar you know,and last year I hualed in five five gallon buckets of scrap copper wiring from a construction crew at works dumpster pile,had about two hours invested in digging it out and cutting to shorter lengths,took it to the scrap yard where it was weighed out and received a check for over a 1345 dollars,total time I had in it was three hours including the drive to the scrap yard,total money I spent was about 10 bucks worth of gas money and a little sweat equity,there is money in copper! There is money to be had in many different types of junk metals for little to no money invested,usually just some sweat. Aluminun for instance(not cans but extuded and solid type aluminum) can be a short term bonus. Always someone selling a set of aluminum car rims or something for ten to fourty bucks,depending on each rims weight I usually get about 75 to 80 bucks scrap price for a set of rims,I can pick up two sets of rims for 30 bucks on a saturday while the wife drags me to garage sales and swing by the scap yard on the way home for a nice quick profit of 100 dollars or more with zero work involved. Of course I'm always looking to make a buck,the easy way.

 

For sake of diversifying assets I would go w/a copper stock also. There are no copper ETF's but I wouldn't be surprised if the don;t start one.
Actually gold and silver are also easier investments through the stock market ETF funds. If you just want easy in buy/sell etc.

DOn't get me wrong I like coins and bars also, but the ETF are easier by far IMHO.

Lack

 

Just to illustrate that there is a market for copper bullion, not just coins, check out this website: http://coppercave.com

Or, if you want to trade in large volumes of copper cents, check out this company: www.portlandmint.com

The variety of copper bullion is quite substantial and the niche is growing all the time. My suggestion regarding copper bullion has always been: first, decide why you want to do it, and then let good judgment and general interest guide your buying decision.

 

Ya'All might think I weird, but I have a plastic foot locker that is 12x18x30 inch that is about 3/4 full of solid date rolls of pennies, little over 2000 which is face value of $1000 that does not take up much room at all and which if my adding is right would weigh about 700lbs which at $3.80 per pound would be $2660 at melt value, not counting what it might be if a person would sell it of at auction per roll???