Nickels worth more than 5 cents now...

placerman

Sr. Member
Oct 11, 2005
286
4
I'm sure it has happened before, but the recent rise in Nickel and Copper prices has the US nickel worth exactly (as of 12/31/2009) 5.09 cents each.

The Nickel is currently the ONLY US coin currently being minted that contains more value in its metal content than its face value.

Of course, approximately 15% of all cents in circulation contain pure or nearly pure copper and as such are worth over 2 cents each, and there continues to be a small but worthwhile percentage of silver to be found in dimes, quarters and especially half dollars.

So let me ask this, with Nickels requiring no sorting by date or content, do you plan to accumulate Nickels in 2010?
 

Upvote 0

2Cents

Full Member
Nov 4, 2009
114
0
California
I have been storing all of the pennies and nickels. I don't have neraly the quantity that a lot of people here have so storage is not an issue atm.
 

FingerGrime

Hero Member
Mar 3, 2009
814
3
Kentucky
I have considered it, but I don't think I'm ready to start keeping nickels yet. For one thing, I don't want to spend all my CRHing money on nickels that will just sit in the basement for twenty years.
 

OP
OP
P

placerman

Sr. Member
Oct 11, 2005
286
4
So far I am just concentrating on cents and halves, mostly halves.

With that said, all the copper cents I have are going to be spending the next 20 years tucked away so why not Nickels as well?

I think for me, it is prudent to follow the money, and right now, the return on investment is higher with cents than with anything else, even silver.

I like silver hunting or I would be completely into cents.
 

drpineapple

Jr. Member
Apr 27, 2009
44
1
Las Vegas, NV
I have been thinking about this recently also. For today finding silver or getting copper pennies is a better deal. Though who knows for example in a year from now if all the hunting copper pennies in circulation are 1% compared to today ~20%, it is hard to find silver, then nickels would be the next best.
 

Coins4Cheese

Hero Member
Jun 30, 2009
657
2
Japan
Detector(s) used
Bounty Hunter Tracker IV, Garret Ace 250
I don't want to tie up my funds by saving nickels. But when they do lift the ban, there will still be a lot nickels around for many years. Nickels are "honest" coins :wink:
 

obediah

Bronze Member
Apr 25, 2009
1,776
0
Clarksville TN.
Detector(s) used
Minelab SE Pro
No, don't see the point really the return will likely never even come close to that of Silver, and considering the time cost equation it hardly seems worthwhile- shoot even dimes to me don't even come close to being worthwhile searching.
 

OP
OP
P

placerman

Sr. Member
Oct 11, 2005
286
4
Since posting that in January, Nickel has increased in value to the point that a US Nickel is now worth 6 full cents...

That's a 17.8% RIO in just over 3 months.

Silver has returned 4.9% over the same time period.

Silver is a lot more fun though, Ill give you that.
 

AGCoinHunter

Bronze Member
Aug 13, 2009
2,074
21
Detector(s) used
ACE 250 (MD) Bare hands (CRH)
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
placerman said:
Since posting that in January, Nickel has increased in value to the point that a US Nickel is now worth 6 full cents...

That's a 17.8% RIO in just over 3 months.

Silver has returned 4.9% over the same time period.

Silver is a lot more fun though, Ill give you that.

Melt ban my friend. Until the composition changes, many will not hoard them. When it does, expect them to start disappearing. Most likely will be like the pre-82 cents. Slowly the percents will drop over the next 10-20 years. If the melt ban is ever lifted expect them to go quickly due to the arbitrage.
 

jrf30

Bronze Member
May 7, 2006
1,838
297
CO, AZ
Detector(s) used
dfx, Ryedale!
I don't see a reason to store "all" nickels yet, becasue they are STILL all the same composition. If they announce a change, it will take a few months if not a year to impliment it, and during that time I could buy $5,000 of nickels in boxes and just throw them into the garage as is. Because 100% of them would be the "old" composition and worth more than a nickel.

So, since the replenishing of them is as easy as 100% of ALL nickels in a box meet the composition criteria, why bother "at this time" doing it.

But I AM keeping all the copper pennies. I'll sell again this next year, as the pile gets large and the price moves up. I have about 1.5 tons right now. As the price moves up and I can get about $120 per $50 baga again, I'll be selling again. Last year (About a year ago.) I was able to get $130 per $50 on ebay. NOt bad. PLus I keep all the wheats I get while sorting the copper. So my copper grows when the price is down, and shrinks when the price is up. And I keep culling all the time.

But nickels are not worth saving as a whole. Having said that, I DO keep the 1960 - 1962 plain plus all pre 1960 nickels I see. I keep the 1960 - 1962 because there are less of those than most 1950's D mint marks, so I keep those too. But not "all" nickels.

I guess it would be like saving wheats in 1957. No reason. In early 1959 you could buy boxes and they would still be 100% wheat, but you didn't wait 2 years holding them while all the coins coming out were the same composition and same design.

make sense?
 

joad

Hero Member
Apr 15, 2009
511
25
East Coast
Detector(s) used
White's MXT
There is no incentive at all to hoard nickels. Who in their right mind would pay you more than face when they can go to any bank and get as many as they want for face.
 

obsessedwithsilver

Hero Member
Sep 26, 2009
547
2
Jrf30, that does make sense. I may actually begin to store a very small amount of cents (maybe a few hundred bucks worth) just for the hell of it and to get the chance to search for more wheats.

OWS
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top