Tried my luck with 3 boxes of pennies

[crazyjarhead]

When to 5 local banks here for halves but no halves So I ended up getting three boxes of Brinks pennies. Ended up with 40 plus wheats. The oldest was a 1927 and the rest were between that and 1958. Most were in the 40's. Had a few 30's but all in all not too bad. I did a few boxes last year and they were in the paper wrappers so easy to dump and re-wrap. These were in that plastic wrappers and took some time breaking them open. I took them to a local coinstar machine and I wonder if it was worth it. Cost 7 dollars plus hauling those heavy boxes around. Still something to do on a boring winter day. Ron

 

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[Diggin-N-Dumps]

OH Sweet !!..Thats a good number for Wheats..I usally range from 10-12 a box..Do you pull the Coppers?

 

[JT10]

Well, if you look at it as a way to spend time, 7 bucks is cheaper than a movie or most other things you would do. If you look at it as getting wheats, a full roll of them would probably be cheaper at a coin shop. (Although I am sure those would be sorted through, and with a box you have a better chance of finding rare ones).

 

[crazyjarhead]

OH Sweet !!..Thats a good number for Wheats..I usally range from 10-12 a box..Do you pull the Coppers?

No, not this time. There were alot too. I'm fairly new to CRH but why do you pull the coppers?

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

OH Sweet !!..Thats a good number for Wheats..I usally range from 10-12 a box..Do you pull the Coppers?

No, not this time. There were alot too. I'm fairly new to CRH but why do you pull the coppers?

I actually started out with pennies when the heat was too much to detect..and bounce around getting other boxes, ive been pulling the coppers because of the value of copper going up. I know its a little hookey..but im sure saving silver back in the day was too, and we all see what happened with that..Im not nearly as dedicated as some of the people in here..i do it more for fun and hopes to find some cool coins...I have better luck digging silver then finding it CRH ..But thats just me

 

[jlr1076]

I love cent boxes. Lots of bang for your buck and finding old wheats is great. I found my first Indian Head last week and let out a shout when I did, definitely thrilling. I use coinstar too only bc I don't have an account with a bank that has a machine. I've been meaning to open one though, just to cut that fee out. But all in all, a 9 percent fee isn't bad if you're looking for something entertaining on a cold day. Like the above poster said, beats paying $15-20 for a movie.

 

[blkcwbyhat]

copper Pennies{pre 82} are currently worth about .03 in melt value,so if and when they lift the ban on melting them,which I doubt they will,you should triple your money.If you notice in the ban,they include nickels too.Some of the suvivalist websites recommend saving nickels,as the melt value is .07 cents. Personally,if the end of the world come's soon,I don't want to haul around a bunch of metal! If I could figure out a cheap way to melt them ,alloy them a bit,I'd be right on it,but for now,its best just to hoard them or sell by the pound to "collector" on feebay.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

copper Pennies{pre 82} are currently worth about .03 in melt value,so if and when they lift the ban on melting them,which I doubt they will,you should triple your money.If you notice in the ban,they include nickels too.Some of the suvivalist websites recommend saving nickels,as the melt value is .07 cents. Personally,if the end of the world come's soon,I don't want to haul around a bunch of metal! If I could figure out a cheap way to melt them ,alloy them a bit,I'd be right on it,but for now,its best just to hoard them or sell by the pound to "collector" on feebay.

Thats actually what i was thinking of doing with some of my pennies, thinking if i could sell some by the pound, i could turn around and buy silver with the profits, My luck copper will hit around 10 bucks a pound right after i do so

 

[jlr1076]

The world hasn't ended yet and it's not happening any time soon. I CRH for fun and to learn a little about history.

 

[Emperor Findus Cladius]

When to 5 local banks here for halves but no halves So I ended up getting three boxes of Brinks pennies. Ended up with 40 plus wheats. The oldest was a 1927 and the rest were between that and 1958. Most were in the 40's. Had a few 30's but all in all not too bad. I did a few boxes last year and they were in the paper wrappers so easy to dump and re-wrap. These were in that plastic wrappers and took some time breaking them open. I took them to a local coinstar machine and I wonder if it was worth it. Cost 7 dollars plus hauling those heavy boxes around. Still something to do on a boring winter day. Ron

If you are going to put them into a coinstar then see if you can find one that gives gift cards. If you find one and they have gift cards of a store you go to then use that option, reason being if you choose a gift card there is no fee.

 

[blkcwbyhat]

Wayne,
Great idea! I'd forgotten that option...a great way to dump!!

 

[jlr1076]

Yep, gotten a couple Borders and iTunes gift cards that way

 

[blkcwbyhat]

I must have been brain dead last time I went to a coinstar!! I'm at Lowe's once a week!

 

[crazyjarhead]

Thanks for all of the insight everyone. In all, I've only done 5 boxes and only in the winter. I like to get out when I can and not be stuck indoors all of the time. I think I'll try some halves next. My bank said they can order them with no problem

 

[SFBayArea]

You can reuse those plastic wrappers and repack the pennies back into them. I do that all the time and spend them in their original plastic wraps. Merchants don't question it because they are in plastic wrappers from the bank and think they are impossible to rewrap but not so. If you think about it, you can do it.

 

[mts]

A few notes:

1. As Wayne pointed out you should be sure to use Coinstar machines that waive the fee if you get a gift card. They have them in my area with gift cards to Lowes and Amazon (they have others but I don't use those). Save them up and then turn them in when you need something from Lowes for the house. They also have gift cards to Old Navy, Borders, JCPenney, Starbucks, and many other retailers.

2. Many of us save the coppers because they are currently worth 3 cents each and are probably only going to go up due to rising copper prices. It is true that there is a melt ban on them but even so, people will pay a premium for them on EBay and CL. Some day they may be worth 10 times what you paid for them.

3. I sort copper pennies using my metal detector. Two out of my three detectors can tell the difference between a zinc penny and a copper penny. I just put the detector on the ground and wave the pennies over the coil. I can do about one penny per second (not counting unwrapping the rolls).

4. The pros use a Ryedale machine to sort pennies. But they cost several hundred dollars. I'm not that into saving copper so I just use my detector. I do about one box every couple of weeks. But if you really want to cull some serious copper then the Ryedale machine is the way to go.

5. I average about 25% copper pennies per box. That's 625 coppers for each box I do. At 3 cents each, you're talking about $18.75 worth of copper that you only paid $6.25 for. A 200% profit. Sure, you aren't going to get rich off of it. But if those pennies go up to 5 times face value you are looking at $25 profit per box. And pennies at 5 times face value could be only a few short years away if things keep going the way they are going today.

Another way of looking at it is that by dumping your copper pennies down the Coinstar machine, you threw away about $37.50 worth of copper profit in your three boxes.

 

[Gaijun1]

How Much Would a Box Of 1/2s Cost ?

 

[yonico]

How Much Would a Box Of 1/2s Cost ?

$500

 

[SFBayArea]

A few notes:

1. As Wayne pointed out you should be sure to use Coinstar machines that waive the fee if you get a gift card. They have them in my area with gift cards to Lowes and Amazon (they have others but I don't use those). Save them up and then turn them in when you need something from Lowes for the house. They also have gift cards to Old Navy, Borders, JCPenney, Starbucks, and many other retailers.

2. Many of us save the coppers because they are currently worth 3 cents each and are probably only going to go up due to rising copper prices. It is true that there is a melt ban on them but even so, people will pay a premium for them on EBay and CL. Some day they may be worth 10 times what you paid for them.

3. I sort copper pennies using my metal detector. Two out of my three detectors can tell the difference between a zinc penny and a copper penny. I just put the detector on the ground and wave the pennies over the coil. I can do about one penny per second (not counting unwrapping the rolls).

4. The pros use a Ryedale machine to sort pennies. But they cost several hundred dollars. I'm not that into saving copper so I just use my detector. I do about one box every couple of weeks. But if you really want to cull some serious copper then the Ryedale machine is the way to go.

5. I average about 25% copper pennies per box. That's 625 coppers for each box I do. At 3 cents each, you're talking about $18.75 worth of copper that you only paid $6.25 for. A 200% profit. Sure, you aren't going to get rich off of it. But if those pennies go up to 5 times face value you are looking at $25 profit per box. And pennies at 5 times face value could be only a few short years away if things keep going the way they are going today.

Another way of looking at it is that by dumping your copper pennies down the Coinstar machine, you threw away about $37.50 worth of copper profit in your three boxes.

Well, the coppers are only worth that much if you can melt them but it's illegal to melt U.S. pennies in the U.S. You also cannot export them in large quantities either. That's why you don't see 3 times face for them on Feebay. Despite the price of copper going up, prices for copper cents are about 1.6 cents each on Feebay. Unless you know mobsters who are willing to melt them, they can't be counted in term of realtistic melt value. You'd have to hold on until they make pennies obsolete due to inflation or a repeal of the law which will happen at some point in time.

However, it's perfectly fine to melt Canadian coppers here in the U.S. since there are no laws here that say melting of foreign coin is illegal in the U.S.. I didn't export them here either. Just found them through CRH. I hold onto all pre-79 Canadian cents since they have the most copper at 98% (more than U.S. copper cents).

 

[mts]

A few notes:

1. As Wayne pointed out you should be sure to use Coinstar machines that waive the fee if you get a gift card. They have them in my area with gift cards to Lowes and Amazon (they have others but I don't use those). Save them up and then turn them in when you need something from Lowes for the house. They also have gift cards to Old Navy, Borders, JCPenney, Starbucks, and many other retailers.

2. Many of us save the coppers because they are currently worth 3 cents each and are probably only going to go up due to rising copper prices. It is true that there is a melt ban on them but even so, people will pay a premium for them on EBay and CL. Some day they may be worth 10 times what you paid for them.

3. I sort copper pennies using my metal detector. Two out of my three detectors can tell the difference between a zinc penny and a copper penny. I just put the detector on the ground and wave the pennies over the coil. I can do about one penny per second (not counting unwrapping the rolls).

4. The pros use a Ryedale machine to sort pennies. But they cost several hundred dollars. I'm not that into saving copper so I just use my detector. I do about one box every couple of weeks. But if you really want to cull some serious copper then the Ryedale machine is the way to go.

5. I average about 25% copper pennies per box. That's 625 coppers for each box I do. At 3 cents each, you're talking about $18.75 worth of copper that you only paid $6.25 for. A 200% profit. Sure, you aren't going to get rich off of it. But if those pennies go up to 5 times face value you are looking at $25 profit per box. And pennies at 5 times face value could be only a few short years away if things keep going the way they are going today.

Another way of looking at it is that by dumping your copper pennies down the Coinstar machine, you threw away about $37.50 worth of copper profit in your three boxes.

Well, the coppers are only worth that much if you can melt them but it's illegal to melt U.S. pennies in the U.S. You also cannot export them in large quantities either. That's why you don't see 3 times face for them on Feebay. Despite the price of copper going up, prices for copper cents are about 1.6 cents each on Feebay. Unless you know mobsters who are willing to melt them, they can't be counted in term of realtistic melt value. You'd have to hold on until they make pennies obsolete due to inflation or a repeal of the law which will happen at some point in time.

However, it's perfectly fine to melt Canadian coppers here in the U.S. since there are no laws here that say melting of foreign coin is illegal in the U.S.. I didn't export them here either. Just found them through CRH. I hold onto all pre-79 Canadian cents since they have the most copper at 98% (more than U.S. copper cents).

I totally agree. That's why I'd never try to sell pennies while the copper content is only worth 3X face. After fees and such you will be hard pressed to make more than a very small profit (some people on this forum do it though). But when they reach 5X face it will be a different story. And at 10X face they will be worth even more.

I'm not even advocating that people start hoarding copper as an investment. Quite frankly, even those people who started hoarding silver back in 1964 have probably lost money on the deal over the years (they could have taken that money and made a killing back in the 80's in the stock market). My point is that if you are going to go to the trouble of searching through pennies anyway then why not take the extra step to keep the coppers that you find? You won't get rich off of it. But you can easily accumulate a few hundred dollars worth of copper that may someday be worth 10X what you paid for it. And there is very little downside other than lost investment opportunities. With today's market conditions that's not much of an issue.

So keep your coppers, or don't. It's up to you. I enjoy doing boxes of cents in my spare time as a hobby. And I go ahead and keep the coppers because some day they will be worth something. That something may be "1 cent each". Or it may be "10 cents each". Either way I likely haven't lost or gained too much on the deal.