OK, so just out of habit when I search through pennies I set aside all pre 1982 pennies because they are copper. Every 1.90 of pennies = a pound of copper in my estimation thus worth about 3.60 in copper.. My question is knowing that, Based on that do you think 20 years from now when/if pennies are discontinued and copper is at 10 bucks a pound that the old pre-82 pennies would be considered "copper bullion" much the same way silver half dollars are today? OR, is it totaly pointless to keep pre-82 pennies. all opinions welcome...
when can you buy an item for 1cent, that is instantly worth 1.9 cents? Instant profit .. you can never lose money on it .... now, the profit would only be realized in years to come when the cents could be sold ... but there is nothing to lose.... the only side note would be that one would have to store all the cents that one has hoard... i mean collected from circulation until the time comes when a profit can be made by selling
And how much profit stands to be made versus how much space it takes to store, etc. I think, that with literally billions of these circulating, that it may be quite a while before it becomes a copper bullion thing. I wish it was otherwise, but I also see the reality in it.
very true.. i have yet to hoard the 1 or 5 cents pieces, but with the climbing metal prices, its getting harder for me not to. The nickles i think would make more 'cents' to hoard, doubling your money from 1 to 5 cents for each coin is just more profit .. but thats for another thread
I keep the nice and interesting ones. Of course I keep all wheat cents found in rolls. Anything 1971 and newer with spots, green or scratches goes back to the bank. I do keep all the 1960 through 1970. It gets to be too much keeping all pre 1983. Besides who will buy them? So I look for the tilted mintmarks the die rotations and anything strange. Anytime I have common coins hoarded I think of the interest I could be earning (compounded daily) if that amount of cash were in a CD. Once and a while I just clear the decks. Round them all up and head to the bank. For me, silver is the king. I sit on all 90% coins, once and a while trying to get at least melt on eBay. If I were to hoard anything it wouldn't be Lincoln cents.
It's probably pointless. I keep them anyway. I'm trying to ignore nickels. I think you are correct, someday these will all be considered "bullion" coins.
I really hate to burst anyone's bubble, but 1 pound av. = 454 grams 1 pre-1982 cent weighs 3.11g Unless my calculator is broken, 454/3.11 =145.98 Allowing for a very minor loss of mass from wear, the face value of a pound of copper cents is only $1.44-1.46.
that could be right Roy, i just thought i read an article in NN that said the mints cost for a cent was 1.5 or 1.6 cents, and then with distribution it was close to 1.9 cents for each 1 cent coin. But ... i have never sat down to figure it out mathmatically like you showed ... so if the mint says their cost is 1.5 or so, im not sure how they are coiming up with that number ...
Apples & oranges my friend. The per cent cost of manufacture has nothing to do with the number of coins per pound.
