1959 to 1981 pennies are all copper. post mid '82, they are plated zinc. In an average sampling of a $25 box of pennies, 20-30% are pre '82 They are worth 2.5 cents a piece right now and going up. The word is out as well. People are starting to pluck pre 82 out of circulation.. Silver was always the "Poor mans Gold" I guess now Copper is the "Poor mans Silver" I'll take 2X all day long though... Ask your bank for a $25 dollar box of pennies. Sort them while watching the Tube or invite your children to help... Turn the Zinc pennies back in for more. Fun Fun Fun
Now anyone can invest in precious metals ! Don't forget the nickels and quarters... Actually.... I think someday.... any metal will be considered "precious"..... given the cost to mine and refine it.... and the cost of fuel.... Things that make you go .... hmmmmmmmm........ "Got Coal ?"
wELL, I paid a guy 2X a roll for 175 rolls last week. And I saw a 5 pound bag on Ebay 2 weeks ago, 150 pennies to a pound. Spot price per pound here: But. Think of it like this EL... 1962 and guys saying "Why you hoarding those damn Quarters? They're only worth $0.27 right now....." The market will follow in a few years... Put the pennies away now. Oh, Nickels of ALL years are worth 6 cents a piece right now. Save those too...
Couple Christmas's ago, I gave my kids 4-3lb. coffee tins of pennies sorted by date and mint mark, there were a lot of pre-82 pennies. As a matter of fact, that year they were given a lot of my coin collection; multiple filled of all denominations Whitman books, Mint sets, Proof sets, Morgan $$ and a lot of pennies. They will be happy campers, gotta love those gifts that keep on giving.
Awesome! We will be looking for the pre-82' pennies. And hoarding them! Thanks for the info. Your the man, you are also the man that had me buy silver seven months ago and it has since almost doubled. Good investment advice. Thanks Melbo.
Bear got me started so Thanks Bear!! BTW, I don't even sort the pennies right now... I just buy and set aside the $25 boxes. Even the older ones are worth more than .01 and I bet zinc will be going up as well. One of these days, someone will make a sorting machine that can filter between the copper and zinc pennies and then I'll sort them all. Kinda odd to look at 4 boxes of pennies, (65 lbs of METAL) and compare that to a $100 bill.. Makes you think about paper
Take a fresh look at that chart... Copper at around $4 a pound right now. That's 3X each pre-82 penny My boxes are still running at about 30% copper I'm not sorting anymore. Just stacking up the boxes. If/When a penny is worth $.05, They will disappear in a few weeks IMHO
Hey a PM I might be able to afford to get into! Also for any one who has some time and a place to come up with dumped metal, Im not sure what the spot is but our local scrap yard is currently paying $70/ton for unsorted junk metal. So old water heaters, transmissions, patio furnature, appliances and so on for a big well packed pickup load can get you around $70 and if its sorted by type like cast iron, aluminum, copper, etc then it multiplies. From what I was hearing aluminum is around $7/ pound now so even the soda cans are worth a good bit at the moment.
Forgot to ask, what is the material of the quarters and nickles by what dates and their values? I would assume the nickles at least were nickle but most likely now something cheaper. :dunno:
1946 to date nickels are 75% copper and 25% nickel They are worth (metal value) almost 6 cents a piece today (5.9) With copper going up still. Nickels are another good one to pull. Quarters are almost worthless (5.3 cents @ in metal content) Good site to watch this stuff is: http://www.coinflation.com/
I did happen to think of one thing in relation to the metal value of coins. I know its not generaly (ever) enforced but have understood that defaceing or destroying money (FRNs) is a felony, so was just wondering, will scrap yards/smelters accept coins for the metal value from private folks? As long as can find a ready market for them it would seem like a hell of a money maker with the current nickles being available from any bank for 5 cents each with a value of 6 cents each then just makeing trips back and forth between the bank and a buyer might be a pretty good was to make some money pretty quick.
It's not illegal to smelt US coin so long as you are not involved in fraud. I'll find the link Refiners are still melting pre-65 coin daily. http://realcent.forumco.com/topic~TOPIC_ID~25~SearchTerms~,legal,to,melt.asp
I am still collecting pre 82' pennies. I don't get any change back that I don't immediately look through. I am starting to sound like an old mizer.
haha. My daughter makes fun of me as well. Oh ll, the way things are going, I'll have the last laugh over it.
Cool, may have to look into it more localy then and find out where I could unload them at or above spot and start buying out the banks of their pennies and nickles. Who knows after a bit of that I might be able to aford to start playing with the silver with you guys.
