Copper cents, pre-"82" worth saving

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I do save wheaties, but wonder about saving cents made out of copper, basically pre-82, since they passed a law making it illegal to melt them down so there doesn't seem to be a market for them. My wife keeps saving them but they take up a ton of space.

I mentioned that my coin dealer said it is illegal to melt down cents, and none of the dealers around here will buy them by weight and don't want large quantities even when buying something.

Has anyone found a place that will pay more than one cent for a penny?

 

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[enamel7]

EBay. This topic has been on the forum for many years. Many people horde them for when the day comes they are able to be melted. Meanwhile lots have been sold on eBay. Only problem now is the dramatic drop in copper prices over the past year. Not near as much money to be made these days.

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

That makes sense. Thanks for the comeback.

 

[Chizzy]

I do save wheaties, but wonder about saving cents made out of copper, basically pre-82, since they passed a law making it illegal to melt them down so there doesn't seem to be a market for them. My wife keeps saving them but they take up a ton of space.

I mentioned that my coin dealer said it is illegal to melt down cents, and none of the dealers around here will buy them by weight and don't want large quantities even when buying something.

Has anyone found a place that will pay more than one cent for a penny?

In North Central PA, I'm finding it difficult to come up with copper. My last $20.00 MWR have all been 1982 Zincolns and later. What copper I have found has been in CWR.......
Must be lots of speculators out there.............

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I mentioned about pennies on the phone to a buddy of mine, he asked where he could sell them for melt as he has about 100 pounds. Wisely I asked him are they all pre-82 cents. He said no they are just whatever pennies he had in his pocket so it is a mix.
I told him that first no one will buy they for melting as you can't and since a dealer has to make a profit they really won't take them. I told him that for him to try to separate them out would take ALOT of time and not worth it.
I don't even think it is worth boxing up by the pound and selling on Ebay, but it might be an interesting exercise to see if you could get anyone to bite but my best guess is that you could sell $50 worth of pennies for $50, maybe if your lucky $52 plus shipping, which would be about $65, but who is going to buy a mix.
I told him his best bet is to take then to a bank that doesn't have any fees for the coin machine and get cash for them.

Just thought of something, maybe I could offer him 50 cents on the dollar for them, never hurts to ask!

 

[enamel7]

If you do a search on feebay you will see that they are sold in lots all of the time, for a profit even. If I were you I would offer to buy them from him and search for Wheaties, errors and varieties. He obviously doesn't know what to look for so it might be worth your while.

 

[trdking]

I know people that melt them (Illegal) THats on them

That being said. If you are a doomsdayer ( I am positive there are at least a few here)
Its a cheap way to save up copper reserves for when the day comes.
All Investment groups advice to have commodities in your portfolio. If our dollar ever crashes the only things that are worth money in trade are commodities. Copper would be one of these. although worth less than silver and gold it is still a commodity that will rise in value over time. In the event of tragedy commodities typically rise drastically. The fact that they are disappearing from currency means that either persons are gleaning and hoarding them, or our government is doing it, like they reclaimed all of the silver and gold they could get their hands on (even the war nickels marked with a big mint mark for easy reclamation)

In short, I save them casually out of my change. You never know if someday we might be trading them or making bullets.

My thoughts

 

[enamel7]

If those people ever have the composition of their melted copper checked they could be in for a rude awakening.

 

[huntsman53]

If those people ever have the composition of their melted copper checked they could be in for a rude awakening.

True but all they need to do is add a few pieces of Copper pipe when melting to throw the composition numbers off.


Frank

 

[huntsman53]

I began saving all of the Copper Cents that I get in change as they will be worth a lot some day. I also save separately, all of the 1982-P & D "Large and Small Date" Copper plated Zinc Cents and the "Large and Small Date" Copper Cents. I will eventually sell these as sets of the 1982-P & D "Large and Small Date" Cents or sell each type in lots.


Frank