Just the question would a Canadian copper cent be the same price as a American copper cent being junk of course no premiums no nothing 3 cents or five cents a piece
The Canadian cents of 1920-1977 had a slightly larger copper content than the US cent. The later ones up until 1982 are seen as follows. They eliminated all but plating in 1996 with copper over either zinc or steel and those continued until the last cents were minted in 2012. 1942 - 1977 Cent * $0.01 $0.0313665 1978 - 1979 Cent ** $0.01 $0.0312455 1980 - 1981 Cent ** $0.01 $0.0270021 1982 - 1996 Cent ** $0.01 $0.0241087 1997 - 1999 Cent $0.01 $0.0069649 Zinc from Coinflation.com
From Coinflation.com........... United States Circulating Coin ValuesThis table does not reflect U.S. Mint production costs, but the pure base metal value that composes the coin. Calculations are based on coin weight, metal composition, and base metal prices. Please note that these values DO NOT take into consideration the cost of extracting the copper from the alloy.
The #2 copper is 94-96% pure. US 1-cent coins were 95% pure, so they are #2 copper. Canada 1 cent coins were 98% pure, but i think they would be also #2 copper 1 pound is roughly 146 US cents ($1.46) or 140 Canadian cents ($1.40) If the #2 copper costs more than $1.46 in scrapyard, then it would be profitable to sell US pennies for scrap. For Canadian cents the price can be lower. #2 copper is roughly $3 dollars at the moment (depending of the location of course). So, even today it would be profitable to sell 1-cent coins for scrap. However, I'm not American, but according to my knowledge it is illegal to melt the US 1-cent coins for profit (at least currently).
