Coin roll hunted nickels.

Personally I'd choose just war nickels and buffalos, but also doing that could get boring so every thing before the 60s would keep it more interesting.

 

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I have a roll of every date/mm from 59 and back plus all wars and buffs. Not really sure why but that's what I have

 

Interesting but unusual.

 

I compulsively save all pre-1960 nicks I come across. I figure.... "meh..."

 

I keep all the pre-60 nickels, they probably aren't going to be worth much ever, but why not, its not like I'm losing money

 

same here i keep all pre 60 nickels i find..

 

Your right your not losing money. GOOD POINT

 

I just keep any pre 1950 and any proofs I come by.

 

Pre 1960. I have bags of them now after having done it for nearly thirty years. I should see if I have a full set yet.

 

Both, for poll question.

Technically, you could be losing money. If the money you are locking up in nickels is not appreciating (or not appreciating much), then you could be using that money to purchase something that does appreciate (or appreciates more). That difference between the two is essentially the same as "losing money". This is also known as opportunity cost.

 

You'd have to hoard an awful lot of them to lose significant investment gains.

Anyway, I'm still building my collection, filling my primary and secondary albums of all US coins. So for nickels, I'm looking for my missing ones and saving all of the lower mintage examples I find. Eventually, I will whittle down my culls to just the best 10 or 20, whatever, and upgrade them as I can. Few of my nickels are of high value quality, though, as all of them came from bank coin rolls (circulated). Every now and then I find a great AU example and that makes my day. I found a supurb 38 plain last fall and a very fine plus 61D yesterday. Keeps it interesting.

I generally find one buffalo every 2 or 3 boxes and a silver nickel every 2 boxes. Maybe 10 to 15 1938-1949 coins per box. In the past year I found 4 proof nickels (all worn). That's from doing a box every week and a half.

I need to become a member of a new bank, though, as I'm finding fewer good coins in mine. Cleaned out my region, probably.

 

Oh another way to keep it interesting is to collect foreign coins. I always pull foreign coins out when I find them and recently started a Canadian nickel book. I'll find between 2 and 20 foreign coins per box, depending on where I get the box. NH branch banks seem to have mostly US coins. The MA branch banks have lots of foreign coins. Probably they come from Boston-area tourists.

 

I keep all foreign coins, but I don't get much down here in South Carolina. I get about 3 Canadian pennies per box and that's all the foreign money I find.

 

Only if you discount the devaluation of our money. Its buying power loosing a few percent every year.

The only pre-1960s that will ever be worth money in circulated condition are:
1938S, 1938S, 1939D, 1939S, 1942D (non silver), 1946S, 1948S, 1949S, 1949D/S, 1950D, 1950, 1950D, 1951S, 1954S/D, 1955 D/S, 1955, and 1958.

Any others were minted in the many 10s to even 100s of millions and will only ever fetch a premium in unc condition.

 

your poll is lacking:

keep the buffs and war nickels.
Plus: 1938 S,D; 1939 D & S; and the 1950 D

 

Hmm, losing money? I believe that "nickels" are worth more than face value due to being 75% copper. You are already ahead, investment-wise.
Given that it is worth 5 cents, you are not losing money, and it appreciates numismatically too. Even if its de-monetized, the metal has more than 5 cents value. Nor are you paying taxes on any dividends.
It seems trivial as an individual coin, but look in the coin mags and on EBay at how many people are making a living selling them, and cents too.
One day, when Emperor for Life Barry III decrees our coins be made of aluminum, your grandkids will have bags and bags of these nickels they can sell individually for a couple bucks each.
I have a bucket of nickels, all dates.
Nickels and cents are the new silver.

 

Nope, littlehugger. The metal 'value' of a US 5 cent coin is only about 4 cents right now (78% of face value).

Now if you want a nickel with good 'value' save all the pre-82 Canadian 5 cents you come across because they are worth 5.9 cents each (118% of face value), since they are 99% nickel as opposed to the 25% nickel/75% copper composition of the US 5 cent.

And I presume a single metal coin composition also has better aftermarket 'value' since there is minimal or no refining required.

 

As Mr. Flute pointed out, melt value is currently below face value. Even if it were more than face value, you could be losing money if melt value goes down from the time you acquire the nickel. You could also make the case that you are "losing money" if melt value goes up but the value of other things you could be invested in instead goes up more. As I said previously, that difference in higher potential earnings is called opportunity cost.

As for nickel and copper someday in the future being todays gold and silver, I'm doubtful they will ever appreciate that much (at least within our lifetime). I stopped hoarding recent date nickels because there is no point in it when I can go into a bank anytime and buy as many as I want without having to sort through them (since the composition hasn't changed). I do keep older/scarce date nickels however. As for copper pennies I do set those aside since they are no longer in production.

 

I absolutely agree about "opportunity cost" also (yes, my many-years-ago Finance degree has several classes of Economics...) However, I find setting change aside is FOUND money: Otherwise, change in our pockets become frivolous spending... cokes, candy, a snack, etc. I pull the pre-82 Cents as copper; Nickels cuz they are almost face to melt (sometimes more), dimes and after 82 cents to my "buy silver can"; quarters and halves to mad money for vacation spending. I figure at worst, I have change sitting around with monetary VALUE, that I would have OTHERWISE spent on something I would forget about... My 2 cents...

 

Excellent Theory.... LittleHugger", I think even Economic Inflation may be off-set by the new found value that would come of the these existing U.S. Coins (including today's clad ones) if these coins were to ever be produced in any other metal(s) like steel or aluminum,etc. or some combination of them. That not even taking into consideration the rise in Numismatic value of any currently struck coins if there were to be a change in metals they are made from. Just my opinion. Regards,