Selling Copper/Silver? Huh?

Given the following laws, where is the benefit of gathering together all of my junk copper coins & junk silver coins that have no significant numismatic value?


1. It is illegal to to melt down copper pennies & silver coins (nickels, dimes, quarters, dollars) for the sole intention of selling that copper/silver to offshore or local metal scraping industries.

2. It is illegal to take more than $5 worth of pennies and nickels out of the U.S.

3. It is illegal to sell the melted-down metal for profit.


I don’t understand how to sell my unwanted copper/silver coins for their spot silver/copper worth, nor do I know who would even bother buying these coins for the copper/silver prices if it is illegal to do anything with the copper/silver obtained from them. Can someone explain? I’ve read several online article sand none of them actual explain what I’m asking.

Sorry if this is a dumb question. Very new to all of this stuff.

 

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I think so.. From the looks of it it would cost you money to get through the proccess anyway. So is it even worth it?

 

You won't accomplish anything trying to sell cents and nickels for melt value. You can sell any 1964 and prior dimes, quarters and halves. Most any coin shop will gladly take them off your hands to send to the smelter. They won't give you full spot value because they have to make money on the transaction themselves. At the peak of the silver madness a month ago I carried what felt like a hundred pound bag of silver to my guy. He made 10% off me and I walked out of his shop with a gorgeous double eagle. Win-Win in my book.

 

Your copper pennies can be sold in bulk, just not melted (yet)
Soon to be a discontinued issue, no longer needed in commerce
Electronic transactions are replacing cash at a rapid pace
Millions of tax dollars are spent, year after year, to produce an unnecessary item. Canada showed us the way but we’re dinosaurs
If John McCain hadn’t been a sponsor of the bill, it would have been done already
If zinc is added to the melted pennies, it is used as plumbing and marine stock. Very useful, despite what some on the forum will respond

 

Screen shot of copper prices for past few years
Truth is truth

 

Speaking from experience, I just sold a huge pile of 90% silver for over spot price to a local coin shop. It is possible to get at least spot (or more) by selling to the right shop. I've also sold plenty of silver/gold for spot or above on coin forums.

As far as the pre-1982 copper cents go, I used to have a small hoard of them. Got tired of the project (of saving all of them for no reason, regardless of condition) so I put them in a local, rural auction. People fought over the right to buy them - as in, one guy left to go talk on his phone just before we auctioned that item, then came back in after we'd finished, and was absolutely furious that he'd missed it. (If he'd told us that was the only item he really wanted, we would have waited for him to return...but he failed to communicate this desire to us, so what could we do?) If I recall they sold for at least 2x face value, I think it was like 2.5x? So it is possible to sell copper cents for over their face value - in the right venue.

Basically, anything is possible if you find the right market for it.

Junk silver you want to sell? Lay it out so you can see what's there, make a list of what you have, and take at least one in-focus picture of the entire group (plus some closeups if you want to be nice.) Post it here in the WTS Forum and you'll sell it.

Junk copper coins? Probably recommend a local auction as the weight will be cost-prohibitive to ship. You can, however, stuff a USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate box with up to 70 pounds of coins (just make sure you tape the heck out of the box) so it's not impossible. I've definitely shipped 60 pounds of bulk world non-silver or wheat cents to people before, just have to make sure you do a really, really, REALLY good job of packing it well.

 

The law against melting silver coins was repealed in 1969. That's not really the point, though.

The benefit is that there are lots of people willing to pay good money for them. And the reason they're willing to pay good money is this: they expect someone else will pay them even more money for them later.

 

The law currently says you cannot melt cents or nickels, but plenty of people are betting at some point in the future it will change just like the silver one did. Not that I know anything, but I could see nickels actually being a better long term buy than copper cents. Nickel comprises 25% of 5 cent through 50 cent pieces in the US, but per cent the 5 center has the most nickel in it.

Copper, silver, and gold, being in the same family, are found together. Nickel is not a normal byproduct of copper mines, with nickel being related to palladium and platinum instead.

Having said that, I could be completely wrong.

 

Oh, man, THANKS so much for this info!!!! Really appreciate it. (And BTW, I love that you're a "Minister of Silly Walks." I was a big MP fan when it was originally airing and I was a kid.... did a skit with a friend in high school for a semester humanities project.... I personally used to work at the Argument Clinic, but then got a great job as a waiter at the Philosophy for Two Cafe.....ROFL).

 

You were NOT a worker at the argument clinic....nope, you never were....nuh uh, not going to believe you, it never happened. Love that skit.

 

One quick correction: it's 25% of the outer layers of clad coins, 8% of the coin's total weight. The balance is copper, also pricey, but a good bit cheaper than nickel.

So, as you say, the 5 cent coin has the most nickel per given face value: 25 grams per dollar, as opposed to 1.8 grams per dollar for dimes, quarters, and halves. According to Coinflation, a nickel holds about 3.1 cents worth of copper and 2.3 cents worth of nickel today -- but you can't get that price for them if they're mixed together.

I started tossing nickels and copper cents into a big glass jar when a nickel's "melt value" exceeded its face value a few years back. I took them out and rolled them once, but now it's full again. I'm torn between storing them and dumping them. If I keep them, I might weigh them into boxes instead of bothering with dozens of rolls. I don't think we've yet reached a point where it would be worthwhile putting them up on eBay; anyone anywhere can still buy unlimited nickels at face value. Copper cents are getting harder to find amid the Zincolns, and I think that's likely to drive premiums.

 

You are correct, sorry. I misremembered, I just remembered nickels are also a good play in change like copper cents, and might be the best play long term. I have toyed with getting some bags of them for the bottom of the safe, but its just so bulky versus value. Heck, the safe, (maybe 16 guns its listed as), already is at least half crammed with silver, and I consider THAT too bulky to really be worthwhile. Maybe a dozen bags under the stairs or something, but then I am REALLY a hoarder, right?

If the US ever does pull the trigger and massively change our coinage, like replacing the current nickel with a small copper plated piece, then maybe I would jump on the idea. Right now I have been doing ok with that money in stocks....

 

And this would be news?

And that's how you become a wealthy hoarder.

 

I hoard all 1922-1981 Canadian 5 cent coins that I can get for face value or as cheaply as possible. They are 100% nickel. It's fun for me.

Currently, each coin is 'worth' 8.3 cents.

 

I guess technically I'm doing the same thing, but "all" the Canadian nickels I get in change still constitutes "zero".

With the exchange rate, this would be even more profitable if you could get them for Canadian dollars. It's apparently illegal to melt Canadian nickels in Canada, but as far as I can tell it's not illegal to export them to the US, and there's no law against it here.

 

My favorite dance of all time: Fish Slapping Dance

 

I live in NE OH and spent the first 24 years of my life in Michigan, so there are lots of Canadian coins mixed in our change in the Great Lakes region.

Plus, they regularly get spit out by the coinstars so that's another nice source.

 

I too have a Canadian pre 82 nickel hoard. Home is north of Syracuse and Canadian coins just seem to land there
I’ll have to weigh them when I get back from Florida
Guessing about 10 pounds