Nickels

Discussion in 'Bullion Investing' started by AFC, Jun 7, 2010.

  1. AFC

    AFC Junior Member

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  3. Mvandemark

    Mvandemark Ignorant know it all

    While I understand the survivalist mindset I find it hard to believe that saving rolls of nickles will stave off the apocalypse.

    While I agree that PMs can be a great hedge against inflation, if the SHTF you can't eat your gold and silver. If you really want to horde something for 12/21/12 or the NWO or whatever the current end of the world fad is, collect dried and canned foods. Grow a garden each summer and can your own veggies for storage. Done right they can last for years.

    IF the SHTF you can have all my PMs, but look at my stored food wrong and I'll add another notch to the butt of my rifle. ;)
     
  4. Cloudsweeper99

    Cloudsweeper99 Treasure Hunter

    I see this quote repeated all the time. It is completely irrelevant to the question of whether or not to invest in precious metals. I realize there has been a small percentage of people expecting the collapse of civilization since at least the mid-70s, maybe earlier. It's a waste of life to spend it preparing to shoot it out with your hungry neighbor over a can of beans. I hope readers realize that this is not an investment strategy. Thank God I choose to invest my spare cash in the stock market instead of freeze-dried rations and bullets for the past 35 years.
     
  5. AFC

    AFC Junior Member

    I'm on about Nickel's being more valuable than face value in the future, just as pre 1964 coinage is for the most part.
     
  6. Cloudsweeper99

    Cloudsweeper99 Treasure Hunter

    Saving nickels is a risk-free way to participate in any future boom in metal prices. The downside is that you really need a huge number of them to make any real financial difference.
     
  7. tommybee

    tommybee Junior Member

    AFC - I hoard boxes of nickels. Nickels and pre-1982 cents are the only real money in circulation. That is, they are the only currency that is actually worth face (or more) in metal value. Its honest money.

    I'm hopeful that in 20 years, or less, present day nickels will be worth 5x face (or more - copper is going to go up..when the economy recovers...and it will recover.) Then I'll sell my $100 dollar boxes of nickels for $500 (or more). Could I make more in the stock market, or someplace else? Probably. That's why I invest in the stock market and other things, too. Diversification is key.

    Nickels and pre-1982 cents are risk free investments. Worst case scenario they are worth exactly what you paid for them.

    Keep in mind that it is illegal, at the moment, to meld cents and nickels.

    The biggest problem with hoarding cents and nickels is space. They take up a lot of space. My nickels are doing double duty, though. They help weigh down my safe.

    I'm hoarding wives, next.
     
  8. AFC

    AFC Junior Member

    Insightful comments, thanks Cloud and Tommy. I agree, space would be an issue. I guess its the same argument when it comes to silver vs. gold too.

    Ah, I'm not saying that I'll horde Nickels, just wanted opinions. Due to the stock market conditions, I'm a little bit hesitant to get involved on that, I'm more about trying to 'maintain' what I have now so I don't loose that much when it comes to inflation, much like other PM collectors, although Nickels aren't seen as a PM, LoL.

    I guess, if I buy a house in the next year or two where I can a dig a big hole in my garden, maybe then I'll look to hording Nickels, LoL.

    But in any event, thinking outside the box always seems to be the best thing, look at what people are doing with halves nowadays, hence the reason I'm asking this early and not at the end of the stream when it gets harder to do.

    Thanks guys.
     
  9. orenthal

    orenthal Junior Member

    it's a shame that the nickel's melt value has now fallen to 91% of face. i remember it being 150%+ three or fours years ago.
     
  10. tommybee

    tommybee Junior Member

    Patience, Orenthal. Patience. Copper and nickel are down. They are industrial metals. Once the economy picks up industrial metal value will increase.

    This is why I love silver. It is also an industrial metal. However, it is also a precious metal. If the economy booms silver should increase in value. If the economy tanks silver should go up in value.

    Silver is in everything, cell phones, computers, tv remotes, solar panels, medical instruments, mirrors, etc. There is so little silver in most of these items that they are just discarded. It isn't cost effective to recover the silver. 90% of all the gold ever mined is still available. Not so with silver. In fact, there is more above ground gold than silver right now. I know that they can always mine more, but keep in mind that silver is generally found as an impurity in other metals..like gold and copper. The Comstock Load was an aberration.

    I still can't believe you can buy silver for under $20 bucks an ounce. I try to buy 60 oz a month. Could I lose my shirt? Yes. Silver is a small and volatile market. However, gold is at an all time high right now. Everything I watch the news there is a commerical trying to sell me gold. Some of the high price of gold must be a bubble. People are getting the hard sell and they are scared. Gold may go up, but unless the world's economy completely crashes..it must come down. I'm hoping that silver rises to meet gold somewhere in the middle...near the historic 16 to ratio. That may not happen, though. Silver's history and future will be subject to much political manipulation.

    Think about the overhead those gold selling companies have when they are running ads on television....guess who they pass high cost of marketing on to....
     
  11. Fifty

    Fifty Master Roll Searcher

    After reading this post I might start saving them. I agree with the point that they will soon be worth way more than melt value. It does seem kind of dumb that the government mints a coin in a lower denomination with more metal than one in a higher.

    Nickel contains more metal than a dime I guess as a holdover from the days dimes were silver. As far as I know the Half Dollar is the largest circulating coin being minted. It has a higher melt value than any of the base metal coins.
     
  12. DougandBeth

    DougandBeth Junior Member

    Are these current nickels? So just going to the bank and getting a bunch of nickels in rolls?

    Hey why not? Worst case scenario is it is always worth $.05
     
  13. tommybee

    tommybee Junior Member

    D and B - that's right. Just go to the bank. Get some nickels. Put them away and forget about them. Unlike pennies/cents, no sorting required.
     
  14. sunflower

    sunflower New Member

    Well, Well, Well. Finally, someone has my heart pumping. I have been picking up nickels as I have the funds for about two years now. My nice and sweet local bank gets them for me at their convenience. I also pickup rolls when I have an extra 10$ on hand.

    I enjoyed the article. However, I might confess that what first sparked me onto nickels was quite different than what was outlined in the article. My spark comes from a more personal experience as a buyer of stainless steel (SS) in a former profession. I use to buy rolled and sheet SS - specifically, extra-deep-draw stainless steel (EDDSS) and other metals for a deep draw manufacturer back in the 1980's.

    There are other important physcial properties to SS. Besides nickel, chromium also played a big part in our most successful production runs. Not all EDDSS physical test reports were equal. The ones with the highest combination of Ni and Chromium were sought for the jobs with the highest scrap yield. So that is the background info I need to communicate to explain why I look to nickels when I consider my belief that Stainless Steel will become more and more desired. Perhaps production will cut back, or more likely will have difficultly keeping up with demand in large emerging economies. Some of the countries that use to supply SS are also considered more vulnerable to issues such as political turmoil, war, and economic collaspe.

    Flight sensitive SS is also high in nickel. So, it is from a true industrial need that I think nickels will have their hayday. One of the earlier posters, cited the potential of a personal hoard at $4,000 face on nickels. $4,000 face on nickels would take a while to reach. I am not even half way there and I have been collecting for quite a while. I figure it will be in about 2 years that the writing will be on the wall to whether the US Mint will modify or cease the current composition for nickel cents. That is not much time.

    I figure if worse comes to worse, that if someone trys to steal, they would need a wheel borrow. I am adding to my hiding places all the time. I worry more about forgetting where the nickels are stored than if they will carry a premium in the future. Packrats are an issue where I live, and nickels would make a dandy victim to be carried off and hoarded.

    Lastly, I go through paper currency like water at times. When I am dealing with coin, I am much better aware of my spending choices. Most offen I get bags and boxes ($200 & $100 respectively). As a gal with a bad back, I sometimes have to postpone picking up my bank orders.

    Obviously, this thread was a treat to stumble upon. I no longer feel like the only odd ball out there.
     
  15. SilverSurfer

    SilverSurfer Whack Job

    The nickel is the most endangered coin, more so than the cent. The cent is made of zinc and is only 60% of face value. No other U.S. coin relies on zinc to be make. Nickel on the other hand is made of nickel and copper.....the same material used to make dimes and quarters. There is more nickel in a nickel than in a quarter.

    Nickels have been the coin in circulation longest without a material change. It's time is due.
     
  16. bqcoins

    bqcoins Olympic Figure Skating Scoring System Expert

    It is only illegal to smelt nickels and cents if you get caught. If you have a good setup, say in a shed, you could make all the copper and nickel bars you wanted.
     
  17. SilverSurfer

    SilverSurfer Whack Job

    I always wondered about that. So I go to a scrape dealer with metal that is perfectly 25% nickel and 75% copper. Or I go there with metal that is 95% copper and 5% zinc. Don't you think that would make someone suspicious?
     
  18. tommybee

    tommybee Junior Member

    bq - I don't know about a smelter in the back yard, bro! I like your thinking, though!

    They'll lift the ban eventually. Probably after they change the composition of the nickel to some aluminum crap alloy and have had a chance to flood the market with them.
     
  19. andrew289

    andrew289 Senior Analyst

    If the neighbors don't mind the stench or the toxic fumes that the molten metal gives off. You might even burn down the shed so make sure is far away from the house.

    Toxic fumes in a closed space ...yummy ...ROFLMFAO.

    http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/enviro.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/gui_nickel_WB/$FILE/nickel_PPAH.pdf
     
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