profit in copper pennies?

Well dam selfly, it depends on how important your time is to you?

For mere cents on the dollar is it worth giving up hours and hours of your time to sift through pounds and pounds of cents? I mean really ...you can go out and read a book under a tree on a warm spring day or spend that same time hunched over a table pawing through coins hoping to come out a few cents ahead. For me, the profit margin just isn't there. If it won't pay the electric bill...seems like a waste.

I do search cents from time to time but not looking just for coppers, I build full date rolls and sell them to folks on ebay for a profit.

How much is your time worth and how would you rather spend it?

 

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But where's the fun in hand sorting it yourself?

 

well, that machine is mainly for people buying bulk cents and selling them by the box fulls on ebay. it isn't really worth the money to buy one and not sell the coins you find.

 

With all the time, effort,handling, etc, and the fact that its illegal your better off getting a part time job at McDonalds.

 

Two comments.

1. I'm not convinced the sorting machine does not damage the coins. They whir around and around to get sorted - there is some banging about. And we all know, even if we find one of those cool errors, it's not worth much unless it's high AU or BU. And as was said, it only sorts pre-1982 from post 1982 (and separates the copper '82's from the zinc ones). So you will still have to hand sort if you're interested in varieties.

2. I think the ban on melting will stay in effect for at least a couple more years. When they change the composition of the cent in the near future, they have to have some way to stop people from melting them down at the local scrap dealer. Earliest date I would see is 2010 and it could be many years after that.....

However, as personal disclosure, I save all the pre-1982 cents

 

Melting cost

It looks like right now it would cost around 20 cents per pound using natural gas to melt the copper if it were legal. The equipment to do it right would cost several hundred dollars also.

I also am saving them for the day when it is possible to sell them in bulk. My real hope is that the government will simply upgrade them to 5 cents in value.

 

It's not illegal to search for copper cents. It's also not a particularly profitable use of your time. When I notice them I save them, probably because I can't stand spending something that I know is worth more than face value. But I would never make it a practice to search large numbers of cents to pull out the copper. Silver is probably still worth searching for. My co-worker got a 1963 quarter in change from the cafeteria yesterday. What people haven't caught on to yet is that silver and copper in coin form is worth more than the spot price of the metal. Coin metal is one of the highest and best uses for copper and silver, which is why the coins were formed in the first place. Melting them is one of the lowest. So the coins make a decent store of value.

 

I would LOVE to find a silver dime or quarter in circulation - not in rolls!!! I've searched change for years and also some rolls and never found any silver (besides halves).

About copper cents - I know this has been said a ZILLION times before, but everyone and anyone can afford to set aside these coins. You could almost say it costs you nothing. In fact, people GIVE them to me if they are aware of my addiction.

So, if, one day, they are worth 5x face or even more, wouldn't that be cool? But as usual, there's the downside of weight and space requirements.

 

I don't see why not.

 

I've gotten my fair share of Silver from Circulation. Also ran across an entire Roll of Quarters in the till at work.