I have a huge bucket of change that I am starting to go thru...Quarters/Dimes/Nickels/Pennies. What are the date range that you would pull? I know the "Wheaties" thing, and the 64' silver deal....but nickels?...pre '60? I also am told to pull all pennies 1981 and older...copper content. Looking for ideas...thoughts...suggestions? Pete
You should probably get familiar with the varieties prior to starting the process. You may find a daisy in the weeds.
Pick yourself up a copy of the Cherry Picker's Guide. Also there are plenty of websites out there that list all sorts of varieties. Here's one I believe I've seen posted here on the forum before http://www.lincolncentresource.com/
Hi, Pete! Before you start hoarding pre-82 Lincoln cents solely for their copper value, I suggest that you call some of the reclamation centers in your area/state/region. The price quoted for copper, currently $3.33/lb, is for "Grade A" or pure copper, and the Lincoln cent is not pure copper. I think you will find that quoted prices from these reclamation centers will average about 25% of the price quoted for Grade A copper. This means that they would pay about 83 cents per pound. I believe it takes 182 Lincoln's to equal one pound. You do the math. I realize that it is currently illegal to melt cents, but it is senseless to hoard cents under the aforementioned assumption. Chris
According to coinflation, a copper cent is currntly worth USD$0.022. Assuming that you could get 90% of metallic value, it is worth about 2 cents. Of course, you can't melt them, so it is difficult to realize the value. I will say that you can often get 3 to 5 cents at auction for rolls of copper cents (minus the auction fee).
Do get ALL of the Cherrypickers guides. Study them, and also get the pocket guide to them too. The pocket guide helps when at clubs and shows. Keep a cheat sheet, and or pictures, so that you can reference them while looking at home or at shows, or meetings. Good luck.
what do u think about this? View attachment 306012 View attachment 306013 View attachment 306013 View attachment 306013
Fantastic! Then, you can sell all your copper cents to Coinflation since they are in the refining business. Chris
I'd keep all of the 1982's. In my experience, the copper ones outnumber the zinc ones by at least a hundred to one. I spent a couple of years doing the roll searching gig and, not only kept the copper ones (weighed to 2 decimal places), but sorted them by year and mintmark. I have over 100 rolls of copper 1982's and less than a roll and a half of the zinc ones. I'd bet that lots of the zincs that made it into circulation have rotted away by now. One caveat - I am in the midwest where Denver coins outnumber Philadelphia coins by a wide margin. Things may be different in the east. Nonetheless, I'd bet you wont be off by more than about 1% by keeping them all. <snip some 1982 pennies are copper. u got to weigh em. unsnip>