What about copper

Gold and silver seem to be the big stars but what about copper. It seems that the copper penny value is doing very well for itself too.

 

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True, but until we're legally allowed to melt them, there's not much you can do except hoard them and hope the ban is lifted one day in the future.

 

I guess you could try to sell them. The question is would it be worth it?

 

Sell them to who? Since it's illegal to melt them, who would buy them if there's nothing they can legally do with them except spend them or save them? Unless, of course, you're selling them to someone who is - shall we say - unscrupulous?

Plus, I think the intrinsic value of copper in each cent needs to rise a little more before selling for melt would be profitable anyway. Remember, dealers don't buy junk silver at spot...they buy it a little below spot so that they can make a profit as well. So if there's 2.5 cents worth of copper in one cent at any given moment, what would a dealer be willing to pay you per coin? 2 cents? 1.5 cents? Once there's maybe 5 cents of copper per coin, then it'll be worthwhile to sell.

 

very good points.

Wait!!! there are unscrupulous people out there!

 

Your correct. Collect them then sell them.

PS. Don't forget to look for Varieties and Errors.


Rhubarb

 

There is one guy selling 5lb ZipLoc bags of copper cents on eBay at the moment. He's selling them pretty fast every auction has a few bids. Think it's 7.50$ in face but $19 in melt - not sure.

I've been thinking about it.

 

Post the link.


Rhubarb

 

i have 3 gallons saved of 59-81 cents and adding more everyday

 

Lets just say that anyone could melt them. Who would be willing to verify every cent you want to sell for melt that its a 95% copper cent and not a copper plated. I mean if you had hundreds maybe thousands of cents to sell, how would the buyer easily detect a plated cent????

Would it be more trouble then its worth???

Allen

 

Whether or not it's legal to melt them people ARE buying them. I"m generally finding 20-25% of my Lincolns in change (plus all the ones I have saved for a rainy day) are 1981 or earlier.

Yes, I will sell them - why not?

 

This is true, it would would be very difficult to ascertain what's copper and what's copper-plated without using a sorting machine.

I'm starting to save them regardless. Lord knows I want to have a leg up when everyone else starts doing the same!

 

Don't forget that some of the 1982's are copper also. I have a digital scale to weigh mine.

 

Would any of you save pennys with die cracks? I have found about 40 in a 10,000 plus pile. Ill add pic of my handy work in a few.

Ok added. see the big zip lock in the right, thats all pre 82. lol its so full it ripped when i lifted it. Helfty my rare end. This is the result of a 5 GL watr bottle and about 8 or 9 years of pocket change. lol

PS: I am not saving them. I just wanted to get the post 82 rolled up and out of the way before i sat and took the time to look though all the pre 82's

 

Why on earth do people want to talk about high copper prices when high copper prices just mean that you pay a lot more for almost everything that uses copper such as the very coins that you are using (ni-cupro), copper wires, copper alloys (Brass, Bronze) which they are used in and so forth. Unless you save like pounds of copper, you aren't going to make much money really. What is a pound of copper worth atm, 4 dollars? I reckon you'll earn that much in an hour or something is wrong with your job. There is a lot of copper out there - it's just not keeping up with the demand at the moment although several huge mines are being installed / upgraded at the moment.

 

Damn, back to stripping wire from public street lights.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-streetlight5dec05,0,2066281.story?coll=la-home-center

 

Some local idiots recently cut some fibre optic cable lines whilst looking for copper, so several hundred people did not have cable tv or internet whilst these fools got nothing for their effort. One of my neighbours had copper gutters on his house, I mention - had, someone ripped them off last year. Nowadays metal recyclers are taking license numbers, and even usually have a city police officer on site because of so many theft items coming in. Having something like copper wire, or construction materials is a dead giveaway.

 

I work for a company that manufactures both copper and aluminum wire. They import cathodes from Venezuela and other countries to put in a furnace to melt to produce 99.9% copper rod, then drawn down to produce the product .

I'm around copper every day. I wouldn't even think about putting a fingerprint on any copper with the way copper prices are going. It's a good company but a Federal offense in my neck of the woods to take for my gain.

Rhubarb

 

Hawaii

Talking about stripping lines for the copper here in Hawaii thats a big deal. You are always hearing about people stealing anything from the piping from an empty building to the big industrial rolls from the utility companies lots meaning some one is doing some midnight shopiing with a forklift. To the point the did a string operation here to see who would by a roll of utility company copper line that was clearly marked with out asking were it came from.

 

What I don't understand is why we can melt silver and gold including new silver and gold coins but can't melt the cent. I am a cent lover so to speak but still it just doesn't seem fair.